Law Enforcement Today

Law Enforcement Today

Heidi Cassidy

August 5, 2012

Richard Daniels

When we look into law enforcement today, we start off by looking at the roles of a police officer. There are five responsibilities and all are interwoven, one with the other. They are enforce the law, arrest offenders, prevent crime, preserve the peace, and provide service. Enforcing the law is to effectively enforce the laws, officers must know the law and understand the community’s priorities about what laws are most important. Working with the community will help with getting the community to work with you. Arrest offenders are upon identifying individuals who break the law, officers must apprehend the offenders in the safest manner possible. Safest manner is the best, but it is not always the case. Prevent crime is by anticipating crime risk and reducing crime opportunities, officers reduce actual crime and improve public trust and safety. Getting the public to trust is a huge opportunity for officers. By doing this the public will be willing to help fight crime in their neighborhoods. Preserve the peace is when all enforcement activities improve the peace in a community, as does the simple visual presence of an officer. Provide service is when officers assist citizens who are lost, auto breakdowns, medical emergencies, and in times of victimization. Now we will look at police officers operational strategies.

First we have preventive patrol and this is maintaining a visible police presence in the community to deter criminals, allows for timely response to calls, and makes citizens feel safe. Then we have routine incident response and this is the important service that helps officers obtain information, interrupt criminal activity, and provide a sense of security to citizens. Then there’s emergency response is...