Police systems in the United States Chapter 6 Serge Baranov Mutual Pledge that organized the country at several levels. At the lowest level were tithing’s, 10 families grouped together who assumed mutual responsibility for the acts of their members. At the next level , 10 tithing’s or 100 families, were grouped together into a hundred. Magistrates in 17 century were some officials whose duties included enforcing the law and keeping the peace. Thief-takers – private detectives who were paid by the crown on a piecework bases.
County and Municipal Policing Despite the existence of the large federal enforcement bureaucracies and the state police agencies, most law enforcement and peacekeeping in rural, urban, and unincorporated areas is provided by county and municipal authorities. The office of sheriff has been established by either a state constitution or statutory law in all the states except Alaska. The sheriff serves as the chief law enforcement officer in his or her county and has countywide jurisdiction
The sheriff the first of the formal law enforcement agents to appear in the vast territories beyond Mississippi River, was closely modeled after his . British counterpart. But while the powers or the English sheriff had diminished over time, those of the American sheriff expanded to include not only the apprehension of criminals but also the conducting of elections, the collection of taxes, and the custody of public funds. Moreover, American sheriffs were eventually chosen by popular election. The Posse.
The origins of the posse go back many hundreds of years. During the time of Alfred the Great, when mutual pledges hound together the members of a tithing, one of the peacekeeping instruments was the posse cogitates, Latin for “the power of the county,” which consisted of all the able-bodied men in a county. This group was at the absolute disposal of a sheriff, and members were required to respond when called on to do so. The institution of posse cogitates was transferred intact to American soi1. 3 Here, it became an important component of criminal justice machinery as the frontier moved westward, for it could place the entire power of a community under the leadership of the sheriff. Territorial Agencies Also among the lawmen of the West were territorial police agencies. The Texas Rangers were the first of these organized forces. Equipped by Stephen F. Austin in 1823 to help protect settlers against the Native American tribes, the Rangers were organized as a corps of irregular fighters when the Texas revolution against Mexico broke out in 1835.
After 1870, the Rangers evolved into an effective law enforcement agency. 14 Following the lead of the Texas Rangers, the Arizona Rangers were established in 1901 and the New Mexico Mounted Police in 1905—but these were primarily border patrol forces and were abandoned within a few years after their inception. 15 Federal marshals were also a part Of law enforcement in the American West. When the United States came into being with the ratification of the Constitution, the dual sovereignty of state and republic required the designation of special officers to represent the authority of the federal courts.
In 1789, Congress established the position of federal marshal, but these appointed officials did not come to prominence until after the Civil War. The popular image of federal marshals and their deputies maintaining law and order along the trail and in the violent mining communities has little foundation in fact. Most of the marshals’ working time was spent on routine functions related to civil and criminal court activity. Sometimes they conducted criminal investigations and appre-hended outlaws, but these activities constituted only a fraction of the duties they performed. 6 It should be noted that not all marshals were federal marshals. There were also city and town marshals appointed by a mayor or city council, These were community Patrick Colquhoun and Sir Robert Peel The Bow Street Runners had been born and nurtured to some extent in secrecy if it had been known that even an unofficial band of police was being supported with public funds, it would have been denounced as an instrument of oppression and tyranny. Even the Horse Patrol, as effective as it had been, was disbanded for this reason.
The English people were emphatically opposed to a professional police force because of their love of freedom, faith in private enterprise, respect for tradition, and dislike for spending public money. In spite of these feelings, which were deeply rooted in English culture, Glasgow businessman Patrick Colquhoun was appointed as a London magistrate 1- soon conceived the idea of a “new science of preventive police Law and Order in Early America From the time the first American colonies were founded, the villages and towns in the New World were constantly threatened on land by Native Americans and from the sea by pirates and foreign enemies.
These problems of defense were dealt with by the military. The towns had no protection, however, against disorderly, lawbreaking inhabitants. In the seventeenth century, village authorities began selecting men to serve as guardians of the peace. The titles and functions of these first police officers were similar to those of the English constable, and the range of their duties can be seen from a 1646 Massachusetts law. Federal law enforcement agencies enforce specific statutes those have two unique features.
First, since their task is to contained in the U. S. Criminal Code—their units are • highly specialized, often with distinctive resources and training. Second, since they are agencies located in the executive branch of the U. S. government, their jurisdictional boundaries, at least in theory, have been limited congressional authority. The major federal agencies with enforcement powers are the Federal Bureau of Investigation d lid the newly created Department of Homeland Security.
There are Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) The FBI is the chief investigative body of the Justice Department, with legal jurisdiction extending to all federal crimes that are not the specific responsibility of some other federal enforcement agency. The more significant crimes that fall into FBI jurisdiction are kidnapping; crimes against banks; aircraft piracy; iolations of the Civil Rights Act; interstate gambling; crime; interstate flight to avoid prosecution, custody, or confinement; and terrorism both domestic and international (see Exhibit 6. 3). Police Systems in the United States In a nation with a population approaching 300 million people—all of whom are under the authority of competing political jurisdictions at federal, state, county, and local levels—law enforcement in the United States today reflects a structure more complex than that found in any other country.
There are between 23,000 and 25,000 professional police agencies in the public sector alone-each representing the enforcement arm of a specific criminal code or judicial body. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATE) Originally organized to enforce prohibition, AM has responsibility for enforcing the tax laws that relate to the manufacture of alcohol and tobacco and for enforcement of the Gun Control Act of 1972. U. S. Marshals Service Under the direct authority of the U. S. attorney general’s office, the U.
S. Marshals Service is the country’s oldest law enforcement agency. It has the power to enforce all federal laws that are not the specific responsibility of some other federal agency. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) The CBP represents a unification of agencies (including the former Customs Service) responsible for administering the laws that regulate the admission, exclusion, naturalization, and deportation of alkyls, as well as preventing the illegal entry of alien4, and the smuggling of illegal goods. U. S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Replacing the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, the USG’S has inspectors and investigators whose responsibilities include the administration of laws related to the importation of foreign goods; the collection of duties, penalties, and other fees; and the prevention of smuggling. Secret Service Known primarily for its role in protecting the president of the United States, his family, and other government officials, the Secret Service also has investigative units that focus on the forgery and counterfeiting of U.
S. currency, checks, bonds, and federal food stamps. In this post. 9/11 era, a special emphasis of the Secret Service has been the tracking of counterfeit money used by terrorists to finance their net-works. 21 Coast Guard The Coast Guard is a special naval force with responsibilities for suppressing contraband trade and aiding vessels in distress. It was formed in 1915 when an act of Congress combined the Revenue Cutter Service (established in 1790 to prevent smuggling) and the Life Saving Service.
Treasury Department Internal Revenue Service (IRS) The IRS is the federal agency responsible for the administration and enforcement of the federal tax laws. Its major enforcement activities in the criminal area fall within the Intelligence Division, which investigates possible criminal violations of the tax law. Department of the Interior U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service With a mission to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the
Department of State Bureau of Diplomatic Security The security and law enforcement arm of the Department of State is the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. Its focus is international investigations, threat analysis, cyber security, counterterrorism, security technology, and protection of people, property, and information. U. S. Postal Service Postal Inspection Service As the law enforcement and audit arm of the U. S. Postal Service, the Postal Inspection Service has jurisdiction in all criminal matters infringing on the integrity and security of the mail and the safety of all postal valuables, property, and personnel.
Other Federal Law Enforcement Agencies In addition to the preceding agencies, a variety of other federal agencies have enforcement functions. For example, the departments of Labor, Agriculture, Defense, and Interior have developed enforcement or quasi-enforcement units to deal with operations of a criminal or regulatory nature. Independent regulatory bodies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have enforcement powers. Special investigative and enforcement bodies also appear from time to time, stemming directly from the executive, judicial, or legislative branches of government. 2 Private Policing today private policing includes a variety of nonpublic organizations and individuals who provide guard, patrol, detection, protection and alarm services as well as armored car transportation, crowd control, insurance investigation, and retail and industrial security. Pinkerton continues to operate in these areas, but perhaps the best-known agency today is the Wackenhut Corporation, a former mom-and-pop private-eye shop in South Florida that has grown into what some call a free-market army.
Wackenhut has some 42,000 employees and annual revenues in excess of $2. 3 billion. In addition to carrying out routine private policing chores, Wackenhut guards and monitors public and privately owned nuclear facilities, Department of Energy sites, and the Kennedy Space Center, to name but a few major posts. Then there is Wackenhut Corrections, a subsidiary that designs, builds, staffs, and operates jails and prisons for local and 29 state governments.
