Law Enforcement Organization
and Administration
Chapter 11
Auxiliary Functions
• Auxiliary services provide the “behind the
scenes” support for the police organization.
• Major auxiliary functions
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Communications
Records
Property management
Building maintenance
Licensing
Crime lab
Ancillary public safety functions
COMMUNICATIONS
• The efficiency and effectiveness of daily police
operations depend on the nature of
communications unit maintained by the
department. This unit must be able to
provide:
– Emergency and non emergency telephone
answering
– Base to field communications by radio
– Retrieval of information related to wanted
individuals
– Retrieval of information related to lost property,
vehicle ownership, and motorist (DMV)
information.
– Interface with or scanning of area and statewide
police agencies
– Interface with or scanning of area fire and
ambulance services
Consolidation
• In an effort to solve
communications
inferiority, some police
agencies have pooled
resources and formed a
centralized
communications center
known as a mobile
radio district
Northern Virginia
• In Northern Virginia all major government
localities have consolidate police and fire
dispatch into one office.
– In Prince William County the Public Safety
Communications Center is under the joint supervisors
on the Police Chief and Chief of Fire and Rescue
– Fairfax County and the City of Alexandria are moving
their centers to stand alone agencies answering
directly to the chief administrative officer of the
jurisdiction.
• After 9/11 the federal government mandated
changes in the way in which jurisdictions work
with each other on mutual aid. One of those
mandates was to no longer use ten codes
when communicating. Today all area
jurisdictions no longer use ten codes, but talk
in plain language.
Communications Personnel
• Should be familiar with all aspects of police
(and if a combined center fire) operations
• Must have ability to screen calls and resolve
minor issues over the phone
• Must be a ambassador of the department
• Well trained civilians are an asset
– Need to have personal qualities of: tact,
politeness, coolness, rational decision making and
the ability to multi task
• Departments should never assign someone to
communications as a result of disciplinary
action
• It has become the norm for police departments
to no longer use sworn police officers in
communications.
• In Virginia, communications personnel must
past state certification test in a variety of job
related areas.
• Because of computer aided dispatch systems,
typing ability is a must
RECORDS MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
• Police Departments are
bureaucracies and
complex organizations.
The efficient recording
and flow of paperwork
are essential to the
successful operation of
the department.
RECORDS CATEGORIES
• People – arrestees, complaints, victims, fingerprints
• Motor Vehicles – accidents, moving violations, parking tickets, etc
• Administration – Personnel, payroll, budget, purchasing, inventories,
fleet maintenance
• Crime Statistics – Arrest and crime reports by legal stature, area,
race, etc.
• Property - Lost, found, stolen
• Other – Jail, court dispositions, bail monies, and referral services.
• In Virginia, jails are run by the Sheriff’s
Department or by a regional authority
– In Prince William County, the City of Manassas
and Prince William County have regional jail run
by a jail board. City of Manassas Park contracts
with the detention center for services
– Fairfax, Arlington, Arlington, Loudoun and the City
of Alexandria have jails run by the Sheriff’s
Department
• In Virginia, court
dispositions are
handled by the state
court system
• Bail bonding process
is handled by private
entrepreneurs
Computerization
• Positive attributes of computerization
– Lower routine operating cost
– Faster availability of information
– Auditing function
– Generation of new information
– Greater consistency of reporting data
– Development of giant data inventory
– Greater freedom from mundane, routine record
keeping
Record Storage
• There is an increasing need to find means and
methods of storing volumes of data and records
in a safe environment and available for
immediate retrieval
– Paper storage must go
– Confidentiality and integrity of records needs to be
maintained
– Security of personal information is critical
– Privacy Act restricted collection, maintenance and
distribution of personal information in public and
private agencies
– Freedom of Information Act allows citizens access to
some records
Property Control
• Inventory control of
physical property
• Evidence control of
court cases
• Found property
Vehicle Maintenance
• Vehicle cost take major
portion of the agency
budget
• Average cost of
complete police
package may average
well over $40,000.00.
• Preventive maintenance
programs as must
Temporary Detention Facilities
• Temporary detention facilities are often called
lockups. Most are located in sub stations and
used to process prisoners awaiting bail or
transfer to main jail. Temporary facilities can
cause a variety of problems.
• Commission on Accreditation (CALEA) and the
Virginia Law Enforcement Professional
Standards Commission have mandatory
standards regarding temporary facilities.
Licensing
• Many police departments serve as the
licensing bureau for various public related
activities
– Examples for Prince William County are licensing
of taxi drives and tow truck drivers.
CRIME LAB
• Crime Laboratory
management has
become a specialized
function based on
advances in forensic
science and crime
technology.
• Typical functional
subdivisions of a normal
laboratory
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Arson
Chemistry
Documents
Firearms
Hairs and fibers
Serology
Criminalistics
Field Teams
Virginia Labs
• The Commonwealth of Virginia operates four
forensic science labs throughout the state.
All major police departments in Virginia have
forensic science units. Crime scene analyst
collect evidence and so some evaluation,
depending on expertise, but all evidence is
sent to the state lab for analysis.
Virginia Labs
• In Virginia, all major police departments have
forensic science units. Evidence Technicians
(Crime Scene Analyst) collect evidence and so
some evaluation, depending on expertise.
Once the evidence is collected it is sent .
• The state lab for Northern Virginia is located
in Prince William County, near George Mason
University
Evidence Technicians Role
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Determine items of evidentiary value
Proficient in photography
Collect trace evidence
Recover firearm evidence
Packaging evidence
Recover latent fingerprints
Examine bodies for foreign material
Prepare crime scene sketch
Prepare reports and maintain chain of custody for
evidence
• Give expert testimony in court
Computerized Fingerprints
• Integrated Automatic
Fingerprint
Identification Systems
(IAFIS)
• Has made it possible to
match suspect and
fingerprints in a matter
of minutes
Computer Crime Investigation Unit
• Computer crime is
becoming a major
problem in the United
States. There are several
computer crime
categories.
– Theft of money, services,
goods and identity
– Destruction of data
– Child pornography
– Sale of illegal goods
– Invasion of privacy
• All major police
departments in
Northern Virginia now
have stand alone
Computer Crimes Units
• Detectives must be
certified in computer
forensic analysis