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Anti-Riot Detachment , filming a gathering. The film could later be presented during a Trial as Evidence . A Water Cannon is seen in the background.]] patrol car]] Police are agents or agencies empowered to enforce the law and to effect public and social order through various means of coercion, including the legitimate use of force. The term is most commonly associated with police departments of a State that are authorized to exercise the Police Power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility. The word comes via French from the Latin ''politia'' (“civil administration”), which itself derives from the Ancient Greek πόλις, for ''polis'' ("city").1 Detective police Detective Police, also called Criminal Investigation Department (CID) , Investigations Police, Judiciary Police / Judicial Police, or Criminal Police, are responsible for investigations and detective work. They typically make up roughly 15% - 25% of a police service's personnel. Detectives, by contrast to uniform police, typically wear 'business attire' in bureaucratic and investigative functions where a uniformed presence would be either 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 to investigate crimes, such as Organized Crime or Narcotic s crime, unsolvable by other means. In some cases this type of policing shares some aspects with Espionage . 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 acquainted 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. Auxiliary Police may also take on Auxiliary administrative duties, such as issuing firearms licenses. The extent that police have these functions varies among countries, with police in France , Germany , and other Continental Europe an countries handling such tasks to a greater extent than British counterparts. officers.]] , England.]] Specialized units Specialized preventive and detective 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 specialized 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 and 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, in London, England SO19 are a group of armed police used in dangerous situations, including, hostage taking, armed robberys/assaults and terrorism. Investigating crimes committed by the police in Lausanne , Switzerland ]] The Kansas City Preventive Patrol Study in the 1970s found this approach to policing to be ineffective. Patrol officers in cars were disconnected from the community, and had insufficient contact and interaction with the community.17 In the 1980s and 1990s, many law enforcement agencies began to adopt Community Policing strategies, and others adopted Problem-oriented Policing . Broken Windows policing was another, related approach introduced in the 1980s by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling , who suggested that police should pay greater attention to minor "quality of life" offenses and disorderly conduct.18 Building upon these earlier models, Intelligence-led Policing has emerged as the dominant philosophy guiding police strategy. Intelligence-led policing and problem-oriented policing are complementary strategies, both which involve systematic use of information.19 Although it still lacks a universally accepted definition, the crux of intelligence-led policing is an emphasis on the collection and analysis of information to guide police operations, rather than the reverse.20 RESTRICTIONS UPON THE POWER OF THE POLICE In many nations, Criminal Procedure law has been developed to regulate officers' discretion, so that they do not arbitrarily or unjustly exercise their powers of Arrest , Search And Seizure , and Use Of Force . In the United States, '' Miranda V. Arizona '' led to the widespread use of Miranda Warning s or constitutional warnings. Police in the United States are also prohibited from holding criminal suspects for more than a reasonable amount of time (usually 72 hours) before Arraignment , using Torture to extract Confession s, using excessive force to effect an arrest, and searching suspects' bodies or their homes without a warrant obtained upon a showing of Probable Cause . Using deception for confessions is permitted, but not coercion. 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 severely restricts the use of the 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 authorize certain aspects of police operations, such as a power to authorize a search of a suspect's house (section 18 PACE) by an officer of the rank of Inspector, or the power to authorize a suspect's detention beyond 24 hours by a Superintendent. POLICE CONDUCT AND ACCOUNTABILITY Investigation of police corruption is sometimes made more difficult by a Code Of Silence that encourages unquestioning loyalty to comrades over the cause of justice. If an officer breaks this code, 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 Federal Justice Department , state Attorneys General , local District Attorney s, a police department's own Internal Affairs division, or specially appointed commissions. However, independent organizations are generally not used except for the most severe cases of corruption. of the Italian Carabinieri police]] ]] Use of force 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, concern 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 beating by Los Angeles Police officers of Rodney King , and the Riot following their acquittal 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. Some believe that police forces have been responsible for enforcing many Bigoted perspectives. Ageism against teens, Classism , Homophobia , Racism , and Sexism are views which police have been charged with having held and enforced. Some police organizations are faced with routine accusations of Racial Profiling . Recruitment The social status and pay of police can lead to 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 commitment 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 . n organized crime division SWAT unit UBPOK in action]] Other issues Some cities have quotas for how many traffic tickets a police officer should write, although the practice is illegal in others. Furthermore, other cities deny that there are quotas, but many police officers have come forward stating that they are pressured to write traffic tickets, since they usually produce revenue for the local government issuing the tickets. Some cities make millions of dollars annually on traffic tickets, which helps fund local government. Many rural jurisdictions (towns) generate 90% of their revenue from traffic tickets. A few cities have actually admitted there are quotas. In some cities, police complain about being turned into tax collectors by the politicians preventing them from doing their real job, which they consider to be fighting crime and keeping the peace. POLICE AROUND THE WORLD See Also: Law enforcement by country In many countries, particularly those with a federal system of government, there may be several police or police-like organizations, each serving different levels of government and enforcing different subsets of the applicable law. The United States has a highly decentralized and fragmented system of law enforcement, with over 17,000 state and local law enforcement agencies.21 Other countries, such as Chile , Israel , and Austria , use a centralized system of policing.22 Though the United States and other countries have multiple police forces, for the most part their jurisdictions do not overlap. In some countries, jurisdiction of multiple police agencies overlap, as with Guardia Civil and the Policía Nacional in Spain . 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 co-ordination of other police activities, such as notifying relatives of the death of foreign nationals. Interpol does not conduct investigations nor arrests by itself, but only serves as a central point for information on crime, suspects and criminals. Political Crime s are excluded from its competencies. REFERENCES ACADEMIC RESOURCES
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