Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term encompasses police, courts and corrections. These three components of the criminal justice system may operate independently of each other or collectively through the use of record sharing and cooperation. Throughout the world, law enforcement are also associated with protecting the public, life, property, and keeping the peace in society.
The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program compiles official data on crime in the United States, published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). UCR is "a nationwide, cooperative statistical effort of nearly 18,000 city, university and college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies voluntarily reporting data on crimes brought to their attention".
A chief of police (COP) is the title given to an appointed official or an elected one in the chain of command of a police department, particularly in North America. A chief of police may also be known as a police chief or sometimes just a chief, while some countries favour other titles such as commissioner or chief constable. A police chief is appointed by and answerable to a state or local government.
Thomas A. Constantine served as the 6th Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) from March 1994 to July 1999.
The West Virginia State Police (WVSP) is a state law enforcement agency in the United States that provides police services to the residents of West Virginia. It is the fourth-oldest state police agency in the US. The WVSP was disbanded due to their involvement in quelling of the uprisings on behalf of the coal and mine companies which were surrounding the concept of organized labor in the coal and mine industries. The WVSP was then reorganized as the Department of Public Safety in the second extraordinary session of the West Virginia Legislature on June 19, 1919, as a result of their involvement.
Criminal intelligence is information compiled, analyzed, and/or disseminated in an effort to anticipate, prevent, or monitor criminal activity.
The Canadian Police Association (CPA) is an advocacy and fundraising organization that is also a registered lobbyist with the Canadian government. The CPA represents Canadian police officers. It is divided into 27 regional chapters at municipal, provincial, and federal levels. Each of these chapters is represented by either a president or director.
The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA) is a credentialing authority (accreditation), based in the United States, whose primary mission is to accredit public safety agencies, namely law enforcement agencies, training academies, communications centers, and campus public safety agencies.
The Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), formerly Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization group of current and former police, judges, prosecutors, and other criminal justice professionals who use their expertise to advance drug policy and criminal justice solutions that enhance public safety. The organization is modeled after Vietnam Veterans Against the War. As of April 2017, they have more than 180 representatives around the world who speak on behalf of over 5,000 law enforcement members and 100,000 supporters.
Jamie Graham, O.O.M. is a former chief for the Victoria Police Department. He previously served as the chief constable of Vancouver, British Columbia from August 22, 2002 to August 13, 2007. A former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, Graham's five-year contract with the Vancouver Police Department was not renewed. His time as chief there ended on August 22, 2007.
The St. Louis County Police Department is the primary law enforcement agency for St. Louis County in the U.S. state of Missouri.
Joseph C. Carter is a retired Brigadier General (BG) who was The Adjutant General (TAG) of the Massachusetts National Guard from 2007 - 2012. He is the former chief of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Police. He currently lives in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts with his wife Rae, an Oak Bluffs School teacher, and his daughter Emily.
Sheriffs In the United States are the chief of law enforcement officers of a county. Sheriffs are usually either elected by the populace or appointed by an elected body.
Quinn Tamm was an assistant director for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and then later an influential executive director of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). Tamm's older brother Edward Allen Tamm was also an FBI official and later a federal judge.
The Alexandria Police Department (APD) is the primary law enforcement agency servicing 155,810 people within 15.4 square miles (40 km2) of jurisdiction within Alexandria, Virginia. The APD has been internationally accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) since 1986. The APD has 323 sworn officers and 152 civilian employees. New officers are trained at the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Training Academy.
The Tiahrt Amendment is a provision of the U.S. Department of Justice 2003 appropriations bill that prohibits the National Tracing Center of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) from releasing information from its firearms trace database to anyone other than a law enforcement agency or prosecutor in connection with a criminal investigation. This precludes gun trace data from being used in academic research of gun use in crime. Additionally, the law blocks any data legally released from being admissible in civil lawsuits against gun sellers or manufacturers.
The Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Training Academy is a law enforcement training facility located in Ashburn, Virginia. It serves 17 agencies in Virginia and Washington, D.C., and is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). It offers training for entry-level police officers, sheriff's deputies, and 9-1-1 dispatchers; as well as advanced training for veteran officers in subjects such as identity theft investigations, leadership, and hostage negotiation.
Patrick Vincent Murphy served as the top law enforcement executive in New York City, Detroit, Washington, DC, and Syracuse, New York. He created the Police Executive Research Forum, an organization of police executives from the nation's largest city, county, and state law enforcement agencies, and led the Police Foundation in a period when it published pivotal reports on issues ranging from the police use of deadly force to the efficient use of patrol resources. Murphy's "long-range impact on American policing nationally probably will be judged by students of police history as significant as that of August Vollmer or J. Edgar Hoover," the FBI's Law Enforcement Bulletin commented in a 1986 cover story on the Police Foundation.
Criminal justice ethics is the academic study of ethics as it is applied in the area of law enforcement. Usually, a course in ethics is required of candidates for hiring as law enforcement officials. These courses focus on subject matter which is primarily guided by the needs of social institutions and societal values. Law enforcement agencies operate according to established police practices and ethical guidelines consistent with community standards in order to maintain public trust while performing their responsibilities.
Police unions in the United States include a large number and patchwork variety of organizations. Of those unions which conduct labor negotiations on behalf of its police members, 80% are independent and have no affiliation to any larger organized labor groups. There were a reported 800,000 sworn officers in the United States as of 2017, and an estimated 75–80% of them belonged to a union.
