Roles of Law Enforcement

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Roles of Law Enforcement There are many police agencies across America who play a vital role in our legal process. These agencies provide the foundation for the prosecution and punishment of people who violate the law. The vastness of the United Stated provides many different demographics that require unique methods used by law enforcement in maintaining order within a specific community. Police organizations have a very important role in law enforcement. Police are tasked with seeking out and locating individuals within a community who have committed a crime. They then cite or arrest that person based on probable cause that a violation of the law has been committed. Depending on the crime the police officer well have to write a report listing the facts on how the violator met all the elements of the crime. The report is then submitted to the district attorney’s office for review and prosecution. The officer may be called into court later to testify to the facts of the case. Police organizations are essential to the legal process because without this there would be nobody caught to pay for their crimes. There are thousands of law enforcement agencies across the country. Based on where the law enforcement agencies derive their power, there are two main groups. The federal government empowered agencies and the state government empowered agencies. Federal agencies consist of of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Border Patrol etc. These agencies have a nationwide jurisdiction and are tasked primarily with National security. Because federal agents have such a vast jurisdiction community policing isn’t their main concern because they don’t deal with the same people on a day to day basis like a local police department would. State police officers get their power from the state
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