Police

File:Image:Cumcop.jpg Montreal police ]] Police forces are government organizations charged with the responsibility of maintaining law and order, and to protect the general public from harm. The word comes via French from Greek πολιτεια, referring to government or administration, from Greek πολις = "city". The word police was coined in France in the 18th century. The police may also be known as a constabulary, after constables, who were an early manifestation of police officers.

A police officer is a person who works for a police force. It usually only refers to those who have been sworn in as law enforcement officers, and does not include civilian support personnel (some of whom may be uniformed and have certain limited enforcement powers).

Work as a police officer

A police officer (also known as a constable in some countries) is employed in most cases by federal, state/provincial or municipal governments and has the responsibility (or duty) of enforcing federal, state/provincial laws along with municipal/city ordinances. They also have the responsibility of keeping the public peace. This is usually done by uniformed pro-active patrolling within their jurisdiction looking for and investigating law breakers, and by responding to calls for service. Police officers are required to keep notes of all situations in which they take action and appear as witnesses during both criminal prosecutions and civil litigation. One of the lesser-known but most time-consuming duties of officers is completion of documentation of activity ("reporting").

It must be noted that the responsibilities of a police officer/constable are extremely broad and not in any way limited to the duties mentioned above. Police are expected to be able to respond in some fashion to any and all situations that may arise while they are on duty. Also police must act as government officials in the cases of investigation. In some communities rules and procedures governing conduct and duties of police officers requires that they act if needed even when off duty.

Function in society

In most Western legal systems, the major role of the police is to maintain order, keeping the peace through enforcement of laws and societal norms. They also function to discourage (deter) and investigate crimes, with particular emphases on crime against persons or property and the maintenance of public order, and if able to apprehend suspected perpetrator(s), to detain them, and inform the appropriate authorities. See criminal law.

Police are often used as an emergency service and may provide a public safety function at large gatherings, as well as in emergencies, disasters, and search and rescue situations. To provide a prompt response in emergencies, the police often coordinate their operations with fire and emergency medical services. In many countries there is a common emergency service number that allows the police, firefighters or medical services to be summoned to an emergency.

Police are also responsible for reporting minor offences by issuing citations which typically may result in the imposition of fines, particularly for violations of traffic law. Police sometimes involve themselves in the maintenance of public order, even where no legal transgressions have occurred — for example, in some Australian jurisdictions, people who are drunk and causing a public nuisance may be removed to a "drying-out centre" until they recover from the effects of the alcohol.

In socialist and anarchist theory and analysis, the police are seen as the main force responsible for defending the interests of the bourgeoisie and maintaining the status quo, primarily by protecting private property and capital from the "dispossessed" classes (the "proletariat"). Socialists and anarchists argue that although police are responsible for maintaining the safety of citizens, most crimes originate from class inequality or the psychological effects of this as well as hierarchy, and therefore that these crimes would not exist in a classless and non-hierarchical society, where goods are evenly distributed and hierarchy has been removed.

Under socialist theories of law, the law, and the state itself, is established to serve as a tool of the dominant class or classes of a society. In a Communist society, this has meant that law is intended to serve as a tool of the Communist party in promoting and protecting the revolution and overseeing the restructuring of society. In practice, this meant that police in Communist countries have had a role as secret police against political opponents and dissidents against the Party. This has presented a challenge in many post-Communist societies to establishing effective police institutions and the rule of law as the vacuum following Party dominance and the memories of the activities of predecessors such as the NKVD, KGB, Stasi and Securitate left many post-Communist states without police forces widely considered legitimate or respectable.

Qualifications

In most countries, candidates for the police force must have completed some formal education. Increasing numbers of people are joining the police force who possess tertiary education and in response to this many police forces have developed a "fast-track" scheme whereby those with university degrees spend 2-3 years as a police constable before receiving promotion to higher ranks, such as plain clothes detective. Police officers are also recruited from those with experience in the military or security services. Most law enforcement agencies now have measurable physical fitness requirements for officers. In the United States, state laws codify state-wide qualification standards regarding age, education, criminal record, and training.

Police agencies are usually semi-military in organization, so that with specified experience or training qualifications officers become eligible for promotion to a higher supervisory rank, such as sergeant. Promotion is not automatic and usually requires the candidate to pass some kind of examination, interview board or other selection procedure. Although promotion normally includes an increase in salary, it also brings with it an increase in responsibility and for most, an increase in administrative paperwork.

After completing a certain period of service, officers may also apply for specialist positions, such as detective, police dog handler, mounted police officer, motorcycle cop, water police officer, or firearms officer (in forces which are not routinely armed).

In addition to any formal qualifications required, potential police officers should have a genuine interest in working with the public and possess an inquiring mind.

Dangers and rewards of being a police officer

Police officers face many dangers in their jobs. Police officers are constantly being faced with the unknown and the unpredictable. They never truly know the outcome of any situation they enter into. This can make policing a dangerous profession. Dangers faced by police include death, increased risk of infectious diseases, and serious and minor trauma, both physical and emotional. These dangers are encountered in many different situations i.e. apprehension/arrest and investigation of criminals, conducting vehicle stops, investigating people and crimes, protecting the public from dangerous situations or individuals, investigating traffic accidents and witnessing the carnage that often results from those accidents, responding to suicides and directing traffic.

Individuals are drawn to police work for many reasons. Among these often include a desire to protect the public and social order from criminals and danger; a desire to hold a position of respect and authority; a disdain for or antipathy towards criminals and rulebreakers; the professional challenges of the work; the employment benefits that are provided with civil service jobs in many countries; the sense of camaraderie that often holds among police; or a family tradition of police work or civil service. An important task of the recruitment activity of police agencies in many countries is screening potential candidates to determine the fitness of their character and personality for the work, often through background investigations and consultation with a psychologist.

Police armament and equipment

In many jurisdictions, police officers carry firearms in the normal course of their duties.

Police often have specialist units for handling armed offenders, and similar dangerous situations, and can often, in extreme circumstances, call on the military, sometimes including special forces like the SAS. They can also be equipped with non-lethal (more accurately known as "less than lethal" or "less-lethal") weaponry, particularly for riot control. Non-lethal weapons include batons, shields, riot control agents, rubber bullets and stun guns. The use of firearms or deadly force is typically a last resort only to be used when necessary to save human life, although some jurisdictions allow its use against fleeing felons and escaped convicts. Police officers often carry handcuffs to restrain suspects.

Anti-riot armoured vehicle of the police of the Canton of Vaud in Lausanne, Switzerland

Modern police forces make extensive use of radio communications equipment, carried both on the person and installed in vehicles, to coordinate their work, share information, and get help quickly. In recent years, vehicle-installed computers have enhanced the ability of police communications, enabling easier dispatching of calls, criminal background checks on persons of interest to be completed in a matter of seconds, and updating the officer's daily activity log and other required reports on a real-time basis. Other common pieces of police equipment include flashlights, whistles, and, most importantly, notebooks and "ticketbooks" or citations.

Line of duty deaths

In the United States, 18,092 law enforcement officers are known to have died in the line of duty. In Canada, 757 law enforcement officers are known to have died in the line of duty. In the United Kingdom, about 3,600 law enforcement officers are known to have died in the line of duty.

History

In ancient times, the military was mostly responsible for maintaining law and order in cities. The Roman Empire had a reasonably effective law enforcement system until the decline of the empire, though there was never an actual police force in the city of Rome. Beginning in the 5th century, policing became a function of clan chiefs and heads of state. Local lords and nobles were responsible to maintain order in their lands, and often appointed a constable, sometimes unpaid, to enforce the law.

In 1663, London hired watchmen to guard the streets at night, augmenting the force of unpaid constables, as the first paid law enforcement body. This practice was widespread throughout the United Kingdom. Then, on June 30 1800 the authorities of Glasgow, Scotland successfully petitioned the Government to pass the Glasgow Police Act establishing the City of Glasgow Police. This was the first professional police service in the country and was different from previous law enforcement in that it practiced preventative policing. This was quickly followed in other towns, which set up their own police forces by individual Acts of Parliament [1]. In 1829, the Metropolitan Police Act was passed by Parliament, allowing Sir Robert Peel, the then home secretary, to found the London Metropolitan Police, generally regarded as the first civil police force organised on modern lines. It became a model for the police forces of many countries, including the United States. The first police service to be set up outside the UK was in Gibraltar, with the formation of the Gibraltar Police (now Royal Gibraltar Police) in 1830.

By 1721, the Mossos d'Esquadra had been formed in Catalonia in north eastern Spain.

In 1834, the Toronto Police were founded in Canada, one of the first municipal police departments in North America.

In the United States some of the first full-time police forces, founded by Joseph Osier, were the Boston Police Department founded in 1838 and New York City Police Department in 1844.

Restrictions upon the power of the police

In order for police officers to do their job well, they are vested by the state with a monopoly in the use of certain powers. These include the powers to arrest, search, seize, and interrogate; and if necessary, to use lethal force. In nations with democratic systems and the rule of law, the law of criminal procedure has been developed to regulate officers' discretion, so that they do not exercise their vast powers arbitrarily or unjustly.

In U.S. criminal procedure, the most famous case is Miranda v. Arizona which led to the widespread use of Miranda warnings. U.S. police are also prohibited from holding criminal suspects for more than a reasonable amount of time (usually 72 hours) before arraignment, using torture to extract confessions, using excessive force to effect an arrest, and searching suspects' bodies or their homes without a warrant obtained upon a showing of probable cause. There are exceptions or exigent circumstances such as an articulated need to disarm a suspect or searching a suspect who has already been arrested (Search Incident to an Arrest). The Posse Comitatus Act prevents the use of the U.S. military for police activity, giving added importance to police SWAT units.

British police officers are governed by similar rules, particularly those introduced under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, but generally have greater powers. They may, for example, legally search any suspect who has been arrested, or their vehicles, home or business premises, without a warrant, and may seize anything they find in a search as evidence. All police officers in the United Kingdom, whatever their actual rank, are 'constables' in terms of their legal position. This means that a newly appointed constable has the same arrest powers as a Chief Constable or Commissioner. However certain higher ranks have additional powers to authorise certain aspects of police operations, such as a power to authorise a search of a suspects house (section 18 PACE) by an officer of the rank of Inspector, or the power to authorise a suspects detention beyond 24 hours by a Superintendent.

Difficult issues

Police organizations must sometimes deal with the issue of police corruption, which is often abetted by a code of silence that encourages unquestioning loyalty to one's comrades over the cause of justice. In the comparatively rare event that an officer breaks this code on a significant scale, they may receive death threats or even be left for dead, as in the case of Frank Serpico. One way to fight such corruption is by having an independent or semi-independent organization investigate, such as (in the United States) the FBI, internal affairs, or the Justice Department. However, truly independent organizations are generally not called in except for the most openly severe cases.

Some (especially those on the Left) believe that police forces have traditionally been responsible for enforcing many bigoted perspectives which have been prevalent at various periods throughout history and which still are today. Racism, sexism, and homophobia, for instance, are three bigoted views which police are charged with having traditionally held and enforced.

Some police organizations, especially in multi-racial or multi-ethnic areas, are faced with routine accusations of racial profiling. Police forces also find themselves under criticism for their use of force, particularly deadly force, when a police officer of one race kills a suspect of another race. In the United States, such events routinely spark protests and accusations of racism against police.

In the United States since the 1960s, concerns over such issues has increasingly weighed upon law enforcement agencies, courts and legislatures at every level of government. Incidents such as the 1965 Watts Riots, the videotaped 1991 assault by Los Angeles Police officers against Rodney King and the riot following their accquital has depicted American police as dangerously lacking in appropriate controls. The fact that this trend has occurred contemporaneously with the rise of the US civil rights movement, the War on Drugs and a precipitous rise in violent crime from the 1960s to the 1990s has made questions surrounding the role, administration and scope of authority of police specifically and the criminal justice system as a whole increasingly complicated. Police departments and the local governments that oversee them in some jurisdictions have attempted to mitigate some of these issues through community outreach programs and community policing to make the police more accessible to the concerns of local communities; by working to increase hiring diversity; by updating training of police in their responsibilities to the community and under the law; and by increased oversight within the department or by civilian commissions. In cases in which such measures have been lacking or absent, local departments have been compelled by legal action initiated by the US Department of Justice under the 14th Amendment to enter into consent decree settlements to adopt such measures and submit to oversight by the Justice Department.

Finally, in many places, the social status and pay of police can lead to major problems with recruitment and morale. Jurisdictions lacking the resources or the desire to pay police appropriately, lacking a tradition of professional and ethical law enforcement, or lacking adequate oversight of the police often face a dearth of quality recruits, a lack of professionalism and committment among their police, and broad mistrust of the police among the public. These situations often strongly contribute to police corruption and brutality. This is particularly a problem in countries undergoing social and political development; countries that lack rule of law or civil service traditions; or countries in transition from authoritarian or Communist governments in which the prior regime's police were little more than praetorians.

Policing structures

Most police forces contain subgroups whose job it is to investigate particular types of crime.

In most Western police forces, perhaps the most significant division is between "uniformed" police and detectives. Uniformed police, as the name suggests, wear uniforms and perform functions that require an immediate recognition of an officer's legal authority, such as traffic control, stopping and detaining motorists, and more active crime response and prevention. Detectives, by contrast, wear 'business attire' in bureaucratic and investigative functions where a uniformed presence would either be a distraction or intimidating, but a need to establish police authority still exists. "Plainclothes" officers dress in attire consistent with that worn by the general public for purposes of blending in. In some cases, police are assigned to work "undercover", where they conceal their police identity, sometimes for long periods, to investigate crimes, such as organized crime, unsolvable by other means. This type of policing shares much with espionage.

Specialized groups exist within many law enforcement organizations either for dealing with particular types of crime, such as traffic law enforcement and crash investigation, homicide, or fraud; or for situations requiring specialised skills, such as underwater search, aviation, explosive device disposal ("bomb squad"), and computer crime. Most larger jurisdictions also employ specially-selected and trained quasi-military units armed with military-grade weapons for the purposes of dealing with particularly violent situations beyond the capability of a patrol officer response, including high-risk warrant service, barricaded suspects. In the United States these units go by a variety of names, but are commonly known as SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) teams. Because their situational mandate typically focuses on removing innocent bystanders from dangerous people and dangerous situations, not violent resolution, they are often equipped with non-lethal tactical tools like chemical agents, "flashbang" and concussion grenades, and rubber bullets.

Lastly, Western law enforcement commonly employs "internal affairs" police whose job is to oversee and investigate the officers themselves. They sometimes do not carry firearms and limit their work to fighting bribery, graft, and other forms of internal corruption.

Despite popular conceptions promoted by movies and television, many US police departments prefer not to maintain officers in non-patrol bureaus and divisions beyond a certain period of time, such as in the detective bureau, and instead maintain policies that limit service in such divisions to a specified period of time, after which officers must transfer out or return to patrol duties. This is done in part based upon the perception that the most important and essential police work is accomplished on patrol in which officers become accquainted with their beats, prevent crime by their presence, respond to crimes in progress, manage crises, and practice their skills. Detectives, by contrast, usually investigate crimes after they have occurred and after patrol officers have responded first to a situation. Investigations often take weeks or months to complete, during which time detectives spend much of their time away from the streets, in interviews and courtrooms, for example. Rotating officers also promotes cross-training in a wider variety of skills, and serves to prevent "cliques" that can contribute to corruption or other unethical behavior.

Police around the world

In many countries, particularly those with a federal system of government, there may be several police or police-like organisations, each serving different levels of government and enforcing different subsets of the applicable law.

Australia

Brazil

Canada

Finland

Finland has a single national police force which is divided into local police and national units. The local police are responsible for the usual uniformed police functions and minor criminal investigations. The national police units include the

National Bureau of Investigation, which is responsible for major criminal investigations.
National Traffic Police, responsible for traffic safety, doubling as a national police reserve
Security Police, responsible for the national security and the investigation of related crimes

In addition, the Police operate a technical support center, an IT center, a Police School, and a Police College.

There are three organizations having limited police powers, in additions to the Police. The Finnish Frontier Guard and the Customs have wide police powers in matters pertaining to their jurisdictions. In addition, the Finnish Defence Forces investigate most military-related crimes of military personnel and the unit commanders have some police powers in their respective units. In addition, the General Staff of the Finnish Defence Forces includes an investigative section responsible for crime investigation and counter-intelligence.

France

Germany

India

Ireland

The Republic of Ireland has an unarmed police agency, An Garda Síochána, although they are all trained to use firearms and all detectives and special units carry them. Gardaí usually patrol in patrol cars or on foot in urban areas. Patrol cars are mainly white, with two small blue strips and one large luminous green strip running down the centre. The Garda crest is also on the patrol cars. Garda patrol cars are identical to civilian vehicles and feature no engine or performance improvements, however higher performance cars are normally bought, ie Ford Mondeo 2.5 V6

Israel

The Israel Police (Mishteret Yisra'el) is a state-operated police force. It it currently headed by the commissioner Moshe Karadi. The Israel Police has a military corps called the Border Guard (MAGAV), which has its own elite counter-terrorist units.

Interpol

Most countries are members of the International Criminal Police Organization - Interpol, established to detect and fight trans-national crime and provide for international co-operation and coordination of other police activities, such as notifying relatives of the death of foreign nationals. Interpol does not conduct enquiries nor arrests by itself, but only serves as a central point for information on crime, suspects and criminals. Political crimes are excluded from its competencies.

Japan

Japan's police are an apolitical body under the general supervision of an independent agency, the National Police Agency, and free of direct central government executive control. They are checked by an independent judiciary and monitored by a free and active press. The police are generally well respected and can rely on considerable public cooperation in their work.

Russia

The police in Russia are called милиция (militsiya). This change of name started at the Russian Revolution via a Communist political idea of "replacing the capitalist police by a people's militia"; but the name "militsiya" has persisted after the Communist system collapsed. One reason may be to avoid confusion with the astonishing number and variety of words which start with pol- in Russian and related languages.

The standard Russian police baton is made of rubber. But in some areas they have to use wooden batons, where the weather in the winter gets so cold that rubber becomes brittle.

United Kingdom

United States

Vietnam

The police force in Vietnam is called the People's Police. It answers to the Ministry of Public Security.