Traci D McGahey
CJS/200
December 5, 2012
Professor DeFranco
Police and Law Enforcement
Police and law enforcement play a critical part of keeping peace in our society and trying to make sure that criminal activity is kept at a minimal from the local to the national levels. The five main responsibilities of the police are to enforce the law, arrest offenders, crime prevention, preserving the peace, and providing services to the citizens of our communities. The main policing style that relates to officers is personality type, life philosophy, and problem solving. The policing styles are usually grouped into the watchman, that can be a bully to maintain peace, but they are also willing to give warnings or help people stay out of trouble in exchange for becoming an informant, the legalistic officer is usually the hard core officer that will always have an arrest if a crime has been committed, and the service oriented officers that take the law serious, feels that their job provides them with the opportunity to help people.
Police and the enforcement of the law have evolved drastically since policing began. There have been different styles and approaches to law enforcement over the years that has helped form the policing styles that we have today. The combined focus of local agencies and the community, as well as cooperation between the different levels of law enforcement helps with crime prevention, and bringing offenders to justice. The use of community resources, such as drug treatment helps supplement traditional policing.
There are many issues that police have to be aware of and regulations that have to be followed such as having probable cause to search a suspect, their property, and even have to be careful when it comes to interrogation, because if they do something wrong or against policy, the case can get thrown out and the offender go free. If there was a simpler procedure to follow or laws that allowed the police to