Chapter 5

Law Enforcement Today

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 Learning Objective 1

List the four basic responsibilities of the

police.

Michael Hanson/New York Times

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 The Responsibilities of the Police

• The basic responsibilities of the police include:

1. Enforcing laws
2. Providing services
3. Preventing crime
4. Preserving the peace

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 Discussion Question
Your community

• Locate a police department within your

organization.
• Discuss the four responsibilities of law enforcement
as they apply to a local agency.
• Discuss how the agency could gain a more positive
reputation and changes that it could make to meet
these four objectives.

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 Learning Objective 2

Tell how the patronage system affected

policing.

Monica Almeida/New York Times/Redux Pictures

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 History of American Policing

• Night watch system—volunteers protecting their

communities
• Formal police departments established
• Sir Robert Peel
• Philadelphia, Boston, and New York City integrated
the Peelian principles

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 History of American Policing

• The Political Era of policing :

– 1840-1930: corruption rampant
– Called the patronage system, or, the “spoils” system
– Bribery and political corruption are the hallmark of
the era.

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 History of American Policing

• Reform Era

• In 1929 the Wickersham Committee focused on two

areas of American policing that were in need of
reform:
– Police brutality
– The corrupting influence of politics
– Professional model of policing as depicted by O.W.
Wilson and A. Vollmer

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 History of American Policing

• Community Era—1968
• Community-based policing
• Rethinking of policing concepts
• Interaction among officers and citizens working in
partnership to prevent and fight crime

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 Learning Objective 3

Explain how intelligence-led policing works

and how it benefits modern police
departments.

Corbis/Bettmann

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 History of American Policing

• Intelligence-led policing
• Relies on data and intelligence concerning patterns
to predict future crime patterns
• Prediction of when and where crimes will occur

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 Discussion Question
Intelligence-led policing

• Discuss the use of intelligence-led policing and

observing crime patterns.
• How would you gain information regarding suspects
who sell drugs?
• How would you gain data on when the next
burglary in a particular jurisdiction will occur?
• Develop a plan of action for how to better gain data
to determine criminal activity in your community.

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 Learning Objective 4

Describe the usefulness of Suspicious

Activity Reports in countering domestic
terrorism.

Michael Hanson/New York Times

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 History of American Policing

 Known as predictive policing

 Relies on data concerning the past crime patterns to
predict future ones.
 Administrators will know where to disperse more
effective small forces instead of using a blanket
system.
 Seemingly random events can be predicted by
police.
 Fusion centers
 Technology as assisters and predictors
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 Learning Objective 5

Identify the differences between the police

academy and field training as learned tools
for recruits.

Marvin Fong/Cleveland Plain Dealer/Landov

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 Recruitment and Training

 The academy
 Run by police agencies and is a controlled military
environment. This is where recruits are taught all
the proper techniques for police work.
 Educational training in the laws of search, seizure,
arrest, and interrogation.
 How to use weapons
 Crime scenes
 Self-defense
 Many more aspects
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 Recruitment and Training

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 FIGURE 5.4 Members of Minority Groups in Local Law
Enforcement, 1987–2007

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 Recruitment and Training

• The field
– Not as controlled of an environment as before
– Lasts from 6 to 8 months
– Supervised by a Field Training Officer
– Where the recruit actually learns how to be an
officer

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 Discussion Question
Citizen to Police

• In your opinion, discuss what it takes to be an

officer.
• What skills must a person possess to make it
through the police academy?
• What skills must a person possess to make it
through the field training process?
• Is this a job for you?

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 Learning Objective 6

Describe the challenges facing women who

choose law enforcement as a career.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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 Women & Minorities in Policing

• Antidiscrimination Laws/Affirmative Action

• Recruiting challenges
• Scrutiny
• Sexual harassment
• Double marginality

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 Women & Minorities in Policing

• Only within the past thirty years has the situation of

low representation of women been addressed.
• Few female leadership positions being held
• Women are perceived as soft by their male
counterparts.
• Male officers often deny female officers the chance
to protect themselves.

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 Learning Objective 7

Indicate some of the most important law

enforcement agencies under the control of
the Department of Homeland Security.

© 2015 Cengage Learning Joshua Lott/New York Times/Redux Pictures

 Public & Private Law Enforcement

• The Department of Homeland Security:

– U.S. Customs and Border Protection (BCP)
– U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
– The U.S. Secret Service
– U.S. Coast Guard
– Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
– Federal Emergency Management (FEMA)

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 Public & Private Law Enforcement

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 Learning Objective 8

Identify the duties of the FBI.

fbi.gov

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 Public & Private Law Enforcement

• The Federal Bureau of Investigation:

– One of the primary investigative agencies in the
United States.
– Has jurisdiction over nearly 200 federal crimes
including kidnapping, extortion, numerous white
collar crimes, and bank robbery.
– The FBI crime laboratory is the largest in the world.

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 Learning Objective 9

Analyze the importance of private security

today.

Newhouse News Service/Landov

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 Public & Private Law Enforcement

• Over $100 billion spent • The function of private

each year security is to deter crime
• Over 10,000 U.S. private rather than stop it.
security firms • Security officers only
• 1.1 million people report crimes, and in
employed in security each some cases, make citizens’
year arrests.

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