Chapter 5
Law Enforcement Today
© 2015 Cengage Learning
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.
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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
each year
• Over 10,000 U.S. private
security firms
• 1.1 million people
employed in security each
year
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• The function of private
security is to deter crime
rather than stop it.
• Security officers only
report crimes, and in
some cases, make citizens’
arrests.