Law enforcement operates primarily through governmental police agencies. There are 17,985 police agencies in the United States which include local police departments, county sheriff's offices, state troopers, and federal law enforcement agencies. The law enforcement purposes of these agencies are the investigation of suspected criminal activity, referral of the results of investigations to state or federal prosecutors, and the temporary detention of suspected criminals pending judicial action. Law enforcement agencies, are also commonly charged with the responsibilities of deterring criminal activity and preventing the successful commission of crimes in progress. Other duties may include the service and enforcement of warrants, writs, and other orders of the courts.
Law enforcement agencies are also involved in providing first response to emergencies and other threats to public safety; the protection of certain public facilities and infrastructure, such as private property; the maintenance of public order; the protection of public officials; and the operation of some detention facilities (usually at the local level).
Types of law enforcement agencies
Policing in the United States is conducted by "around 18,000 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, all with their own rules". Every state has its own nomenclature for agencies, and their powers, responsibilities and funding vary from state to state.[2] 2008 census data from the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)[3] revealed that this constitutes:
73 federal agencies
50 primary state law enforcement agencies
1,733 special jurisdiction agencies
3,063 sheriff's offices
12,501 city, county, tribal, and regional police departments
At the federal level, there exists both federal law enforcement agencies, which possess full federal authority as given to them under United States Code (U.S.C.), and federal law enforcement agencies, who are authorized to enforce various laws at the federal level. Both police and law enforcement agencies operate at the highest level and are endowed with police roles; each may maintain a small component of the other (for example, the FBI Police). The agencies have jurisdiction in all states, U.S. territories, and U.S. possessions for enforcement of federal law. Most federal agencies are limited by the U.S. Code to investigating only matters that are explicitly within the power of the federal government. However, federal investigative powers have become very broad in practice, especially since the passage of the Patriot Act. There are also federal law enforcement agencies, such as the National Park Service Law Enforcement Rangers, that are granted state arrest authority off primary federal jurisdiction.
At a crime or disaster scene affecting large numbers of people, multiple jurisdictions, or broad geographic areas, many police agencies may be involved by mutual aid agreements.[7] For example, the United States Federal Protective Service responded to the Hurricane Katrina natural disaster. The command in such situations remains a complex and flexible issue.
In accordance with the federal structure of the United States government, the national (federal) government is not authorized to execute general police powers by the Constitution of the United States. The power to have a police force is given to each of the United States' 50 federated states. The Constitution gives the federal government the power to deal with foreign affairs and interstate affairs (affairs between the states). For police, this means that if a non-federal crime is committed in a U.S. state and the fugitive does not flee the state, the federal government has no jurisdiction. However, once the fugitive crosses a state line, he violates the federal law of interstate flight and is subject to federal jurisdiction, at which time federal law enforcement agencies may become involved.
County police tend to exist only in metropolitan counties and have countywide jurisdiction. For places that have both county police and county sheriff, responsibilities are given to each: the county police are in charge of typical police duties such as patrol and investigations,[8] whereas the sheriffs' department in this situation takes care of serving papers and providing security to the courts. County police tend to fall into three broad categories, full service, limited service, and restrictive service.[8] Full service provides full police services to the entire county. Limited service provides to the unincorporated and special districts. Restricted service provide security to the county-owned parts of the county.[8]
Sheriffs are Law Enforcement officers who have many different responsibilities and functions from state to state. Sheriffs are elected officials who are appointed or hired in. Sheriffs are responsible for all three parts of the criminal justice system. They uphold the county jail, ensure safety within the courts, and may have jurisdiction to enforce laws in the entire county.[9] They have more responsibilities such as transporting prisoners, running crime labs, and collecting taxes.[9]
In Texas, the sheriff's office is normally the agency responsible for handling mental health calls. If the situation is dangerous, a sheriff's deputy has the power to take a person to a hospital on a mental health commitment immediately. However, if the situation is not actively dangerous, a warrant must be sought. With the rise in mental health units across the state, the Texas CIT Association was formed.
The Commonwealth of Virginia does not have overlapping county and city jurisdictions, whereas in most other states, municipalities generally fall within (and share jurisdiction and many other governmental responsibilities with) one (or more) county(ies). In Virginia, governmental power flows down from the state (or in Virginia's case, commonwealth) directly to either a county or an independent city. Thus, policing in Virginia is more streamlined: the county sheriff's office/department or county police department does not overlap with an independent city police department. Unincorporated townships remain part of their parent county, but incorporated townships may have town police departments to augment their county law enforcement. Town police departments are often small and may deploy a combination of paid and unpaid, full and part-time law enforcement officers, including auxiliary officers who typically serve as part-time, unpaid volunteers. If present, independent city sheriff's offices usually follow the restrictive model shown above for sheriff's departments, with limited law enforcement authority including warrant service, jail bailiff, etc. Mutual assistance compacts may exist where neighboring law enforcement agencies will assist each other, however, in addition to state (commonwealth) law enforcement resources. Like most states, Virginia also has campus police officers. Under Virginia State Code 23.1-809 and 23.1-810, public and private colleges and universities can maintain their own armed police force and employ sworn campus police officers. These sworn officers have the same authority as local police and are required to complete police academy training mandated by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services. Virginia campus police officers have jurisdiction on and immediately around the campus, but police departments may petition to the local circuit court for concurrent jurisdiction with the local police.[10][11]
Metropolitan departments, such as the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, have jurisdiction covering multiple communities and municipalities, often over a wide area, and typically share geographical boundaries within one or more cities or counties. Metropolitan departments have usually been formed by a merger between local agencies, typically several local police departments and often the local sheriff's department or office, in efforts to provide greater efficiency by centralizing command and resources and to resolve jurisdictional problems, often in communities experiencing rapid population growth and urban sprawl, or in neighboring communities too small to afford individual police departments. Some county sheriff's departments, such as the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, are contracted to provide full police services to local cities within their counties. Likewise, in Florida, the Duval County Road Patrol and the Jacksonville Police Department consolidated in 1968 to form the "Office of the Sheriff – Jacksonville Police," commonly known as the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, policing all of Duval County.
The Puerto Rico Police Bureau (PRPB) traces back to 1837, when Spanish governor Francisco Javier de Moreda y Prieto created La Guardia Civil de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Civil Guard) to protect the lives and property of Puerto Ricans who at the time were Spanish subjects, and provide police services to the entire island, even though many municipalities maintained their own police force. The United States invaded and took possession of Puerto Rico in July 1898 as a result of the Spanish–American War and has controlled the island as a US territory since then. The Insular Police of Puerto Rico was created on February 21, 1899, under the command of Colonel Frank Thacher (U.S. Marine officer during the Spanish–American War), with an authorized strength of 313 sworn officers. As of 2009, the PRPB had over 17,292 officers.
Some law enforcement agencies may be owned, operated, or otherwise controlled by a private entity (such as a corporation) or is a police agency whose primary function is to provide contract based security services to private entities, and may be considered private police. For example, in Washington, D.C., special police officers from the Metro Special Police Department have full law enforcement authority and contract their services to private organizations.[12][13]
Private police officers are different from security guards, who generally do not have arrest powers beyond a citizen's arrest if they have probable cause to do so. Private police officers are generally required to be licensed the same as a regular police officer and have the same powers as a regular law enforcement officer (even if sometimes limited to the properties they are assigned to protect).
A specific type of private police is company police, such as railroad police. In some cases, private police are sworn in as government employees to ensure compliance with the law, as in the Kalamazoo, Michigan-Charles Services contract, which lasted 31⁄2 years. Private police services are sometimes called "Subscription-Based Patrol."[14] The largest private police forces in the United States are the railroad police employed by the major Class I railroads.
Bi-State Police Departments
DRPA police car containing badge reading "Police PA & NJ"
A bi-state police department is a state-level police agency that carries full police authority and jurisdiction in two or more states. This is typically done through an interstate compact approved by Congress, but some departments have consolidated without Congressional approval.[15]
Town police departments are usually consolidated without Congressional approval. This is done through state and local laws, usually by certifying officers in both states.[16]
Railroad police departments are granted this privilege without interstate compacts thanks to various federal and state laws.[17]
Officers are typically bound to the laws of the jurisdiction(state) that they are currently in. Delmar's enforcement of Maryland's Automated Speed Enforcement Program is an example of this, as it can only be set up on the Maryland side of the town.[18]
Keep in mind that mutual aid agreements often give officers/departments from "State A" limited police powers in "State B" & vice versa, even though they aren't certified in both states like bi-state police departments. Twin city departments such as Lookout Mountain, Georgia and Lookout Mountain, Tennessee are examples of this.[30]
Police functions
A Florida Highway Patrol trooper and a government worker at the scene of a traffic collision
Textbooks and scholars have identified three primary police agency functions. The following is cited from The American System of Criminal Justice, by George F. Cole and Christopher E. Smith, 2004, 10th edition, Wadsworth/Thomson Learning:
Order maintenance
This is the broad mandate to keep the peace or otherwise prevent behaviors which might disturb others. This can deal with things ranging from a barking dog to a fist-fight. By way of description, Cole and Smith note that police are usually called-on to "handle" these situations with discretion, rather than deal with them as strict violations of law, though of course their authority to deal with these situations is based in violations of law.
Law enforcement
These powers are typically used only in cases where the law has been violated and a suspect must be identified and apprehended. Most obvious instances include robbery, murder, or burglary. This is the popular notion of the main police function, but the frequency of such activity depends on geography and season.
Service
Services may include rendering first aid, providing tourist information, guiding the disoriented, or acting as educators (on topics such as preventing drug use). Cole and Smith cited one study which showed 80% of all calls for police assistance did not involve crimes, but this may not be the case in all parts of the country. Because police agencies are traditionally available year-round, 24 hours a day, citizens call upon police departments not only in times of trouble but also when just inconvenienced. As a result, police services may include roadside auto assistance, providing referrals to other agencies, finding lost pets or property, or checking locks on vacationers' homes.
Given the broad mandates of police work and the limited resources they have, police administrators must develop policies to prioritize and focus their activities. Some of the more controversial policies restrict, or even forbid, high-speed vehicular pursuits. Researchers Falcone, Wells, & Weisheit describe a historical separation of police models between small towns and larger cities. The distinction has also been defined between rural and urban policing models, which tended to function differently with separate hierarchical systems supporting each.[31]
Three styles of policing develop from a jurisdiction's socioeconomic characteristics, government organization, and choice of police administrators. According to a study in a book by James Q. Wilson (Varieties of Police Behavior, 1968, 1978, Harvard University Press), there were three distinct types of policing developed in his study of eight communities. Each style emphasized different police functions and was linked to specific characteristics of the community the department served.
Watchman
Emphasizes maintaining order, usually found in communities with a declining industrial base, and a blue-collar, mixed ethnic/racial population. This form of policing is implicitly less pro-active than other styles, and certain offenses may be "overlooked" on a variety of social, legal, and cultural grounds as long as public order is maintained. Cole and Smith comment the broad discretion exercised in this style of policing can result in charges of discrimination when it appears police treatment of different groups results in the perception that some groups get better treatment than others.
Legalistic
Emphasizes law enforcement and professionalism. This is usually found in reform-minded cities, with mixed socioeconomic composition. Officers are expected to generate a large number of arrests and citations and act as if there were a single community standard for conduct, rather than different standards for different groups. However, the fact that certain groups are more likely to have law enforcement contact means this strict enforcement of laws may seem overly harsh on certain groups.[citation needed]
Service
Emphasizes the service functions of police work, usually found in suburban, middle-class communities where residents demand individual treatment. Police in homogeneous communities can view their work as protecting their citizens against "outsiders", with frequent but often informal interventions against community members. The uniform make-up of the community means crimes are usually more obvious, and therefore less frequent, leaving police free to deal with service functions and traffic control.
Wilson's study applies to police behavior for the entire department over time. At any given time, police officers may be acting in a watchman, service, or legalistic function by the nature of what they are doing at the time, their temperament, or their mood at the time. Individual officers may also be inclined to one style or another, regardless of the supervisor or citizen demands.
Community policing is a shift in policing practices in the U.S. that moved away from standardization and towards a more preventive model where police actively partner with the community it serves.[32]
Policing in what would become the United States of America arose from the law enforcement systems in European countries, particularly the ancient English common law system. This relied heavily on citizen volunteers, as well as watch groups, constables, sheriffs, and a conscription system known as posse comitatus similar to the militia system.[33][34]
An early night watch formed in Boston in 1631, and in 1634 the first U.S. constable on record was Joshua Pratt, in the Plymouth Colony.[citation needed]Constables were tasked with surveying land, serving warrants, and enforcing punishments.[34]
A rattlewatch was formed in New Amsterdam, later to become New York City, in 1651. The New York rattlewatch "strolled the streets to discourage crime and search for lawbreakers" and also served as town criers. In 1658, they began drawing pay, making them the first municipally funded police organization.[35] When the English captured New Amsterdam in 1664, they installed a constable whose duties included keeping the peace, suppressing excessive drinking, gambling, prostitution, and preventing disturbances during church services.[36] A night watch was formed in Philadelphia in 1700.[37]
Police in different roles from Toledo, Ohio as seen in 1912 from "Bramble's views Toledo, Ohio: diamond anniversary 1837–1912"
Modern policing began to emerge in the U.S. in the mid-nineteenth century, influenced by the British model of policing established in 1829 based on the Peelian principles.[33][41] The first organized, publicly funded professional full-time police services were established in Boston in 1838,[42] New York in 1844, and Philadelphia in 1854.
Slave patrols in the south were abolished upon the abolition of slavery in the 1860s.[38][43] The legal tactics of the slave patrols are reflected in the vigilante tactics of the Ku Klux Klan.[38]
A San Francisco Police Department officer on duty at an anti-Nazi rally in 1936
The advent of the police car, two-way radio, and telephone in the early 20th century transformed policing into a reactive strategy that focused on responding to calls for service.[44] In the 1920s, led by Berkeley, California police chief August Vollmer, police began to professionalize, adopt new technologies, and place emphasis on training.[46] With this transformation, police command and control became more centralized. Orlando Winfield Wilson, a student of Vollmer, helped reduce corruption and introduce professionalism in Wichita, Kansas, and later in the Chicago Police Department.[47] Strategies employed by O.W. Wilson included rotating officers from community to community to reduce their vulnerability to corruption, establishing a non-partisan police board to help govern the police force, a strict merit system for promotions within the department, and an aggressive recruiting drive with higher police salaries to attract professionally qualified officers.[48]
Despite such reforms, police agencies were led by highly autocratic leaders, and there remained a lack of respect between police and the community. During the professionalism era of policing, law enforcement agencies concentrated on dealing with felonies and other serious crime, rather than focusing on crime prevention.[49] Following urban unrest in the 1960s, police placed more emphasis on community relations, and enacted reforms such as increased diversity in hiring. The Kansas City Preventive Patrol study in the 1970s found the reactive approach to policing to be ineffective.[50] The cost of policing rapidly expanded during the 1960s. In 1951, American cities spent $82 per person on policing. Adjusting for inflation, police spending increased over 300% by 2016, to $286 per person.[51]
In the 1990s, many law enforcement agencies began to adopt community policing strategies, and others adopted problem-oriented policing. In the 1990s, CompStat was developed by the New York Police Department as an information-based system for tracking and mapping crime patterns and trends, and holding police accountable for dealing with crime problems. CompStat, and other forms of information-led policing, have since been replicated in police departments across the United States.[citation needed]
Law enforcement officers are granted certain powers to enable them to carry out their duties. When there exists probable cause to believe that a person has committed a serious crime, a misdemeanor in their presence, or a select-few misdemeanors not in their presence, a law enforcement officer can handcuff and arrest a person, who will be held in a police station or jail pending a judicial bail determination or an arraignment.
In 2010, the FBI estimated that law enforcement agencies made 13,120,947 arrests (excluding traffic violations). Of those persons arrested, 74.5% were male and 69.4 percent of all persons arrested were white, 28.0 percent were black, and the remaining 2.6 percent were of other races.[52]
A law enforcement officer may briefly detain a person upon reasonable suspicion of involvement in a crime but short of probable cause to arrest. Merely lawfully detaining a person—in and of itself—does not deprive a person of their Fourth Amendment right against unlawful searches. Federal, state, and local laws, and individual law enforcement departmental policies govern when, where, how, and upon whom a law enforcement officer may perform a "pat down," "protective search," or "Terry frisk," based on several U.S. Supreme Court decisions (including Terry v. Ohio (1968), Michigan v. Long (1983), and Maryland v. Buie (1990)):[citation needed]
In Terry v. Ohio, the landmark decision introducing the term "Terry frisk", or "frisk", to the broader public (italics added):
Our evaluation of the proper balance that has to be struck in this type of case leads us to conclude that there must be a narrowly drawn authority to permit a reasonable search for weapons for the protection of the police officer, where he has reason to believe that he is dealing with an armed and dangerous individual, regardless of whether he has probable cause to arrest the individual for a crime. The officer need not be absolutely certain that the individual is armed; the issue is whether a reasonably prudent man in the circumstances would be warranted in the belief that his safety or that of others was in danger.[53]
In most states, law enforcement officers operate under the same self-defense laws as the general public.[citation needed] Generally, when the first responder or a member of the public is at risk of serious bodily injury and/or death, lethal force is justified.[citation needed] Most law enforcement agencies establish a use of force continuum and list deadly force as a force of last resort. With this model, agencies try to control excessive uses of force. Nonetheless, some question the number of killings by law enforcement officers, including killings of people who are unarmed, raising questions about alleged widespread and ongoing excessive use of force.[54][55] Other non-fatal incidents and arrests have raised similar concerns.[56][57][58]
The racial distribution of victims of US police lethal force is not proportionate to the racial distribution of the US population.[59][60] Whites account for the largest racial group of deaths, but are under-represented, accounting for 45% of police killings (and 60% of the population). Blacks are over-represented, accounting for 24% of police killings (and 13% of the population). Hispanics are proportionately represented, accounting for 17% of police killings (and 18% of the population). Others (including Asian, Native American, and others) are under-represented, accounting for 4% of police killings (and 8% of the population).[59]
A 2021 study published in The Lancet found that over 30,000 people have died by police violence in the United States from 1980 to 2018.[61]
The militarization of both rural and urban law enforcement has been attributed to the United States' involvement in wars during the 20th century, although some attribute the militarization to the more recent campaigns on drugs and terror.[62][63] Historian Charles Beard argued that cultural change during the Great Depression encouraged the militarization of law enforcement,[64] whereas Harwood argues that the creation of Special Response Teams and tactical units within law enforcement during the 1960s began such a trend.[citation needed]
Beginning in the 1990s, the use of military equipment and tactics for community policing and for public order policing has become more widespread under the 1033 program.[65][66] The program prompted discussion among lawmakers in 2014 after unrest in Ferguson, Missouri.[67][68] President Obama introduced restrictions in 2015 on the transfer of surplus military equipment to police. In 2017, the Trump administration announced it would reinstate the program.[69]
The U.S. Supreme Court first introduced the qualified immunity doctrine in 1967, originally with the rationale of protecting law enforcement officials from frivolous lawsuits and financial liability in cases where they acted in good faith in unclear legal situations.[72][73] Starting around 2005, courts increasingly applied the doctrine to cases involving the use of excessive or deadly force by police, leading to widespread criticism that it, in the words of a 2020 Reuters report, "has become a nearly failsafe tool to let police brutality go unpunished and deny victims their constitutional rights".[74]
In the 1981 case Warren v. District of Columbia, the ultimate ruling was that United States law did not require law enforcement officers to protect the general population, that ordinary citizens could not be classified as persons requiring special protection, and the officers had no legal duty to protect.
This and other cases have been used to establish legal precedents in many jurisdictions across the United States. Such precedents are often used to protect law enforcement officers and organizations from being charged with inaction during riots or mass shootings.[citation needed]
Rules on civil asset forfeiture allow law enforcement officers to seize anything which they can plausibly claim was the proceeds of a crime. The property-owner need not be convicted of that crime; if officers find drugs in a house, they can take cash from the house and possibly the house itself. Commentators have said these rules provide an incentive for law enforcement officers to focus on drug-related crimes rather than crimes against persons, such as rape and homicide. They also provide an incentive to arrest suspected drug-dealers inside their houses, which can be seized, and to raid stash houses after most of their drugs have been sold, when officers can seize the cash.[75][76]
Despite safeguards around recruitment, some police departments have at times relaxed hiring and staffing policies, sometimes in violation of the law, most often in the cases of local departments and federally funded drug task forces facing staffing shortages, attrition, and needs to quickly fill positions. This has included at times the fielding (and sometimes the arming) of uncertified officers (who may be working temporarily in what is supposed to be a provisional limited-duty status prior to certification) and the hiring of itinerant "gypsy cops", who may have histories of poor performance or misconduct in other departments.[77][78][79][80][81][82]
Racial profiling by law enforcement at the local, state, and federal levels, leads to discrimination against people in the African American, Native American, Asian, Pacific Islander, Latino, Arab, and Muslim communities of the United States. Examples of racial profiling are the use of race to determine which drivers to stop for minor traffic violations (commonly referred to as 'driving while black, Asian, Native American, Middle Eastern, Hispanic, or brown'), or the use of race to determine which pedestrians to search for illegal contraband. Besides such disproportionate searching of African Americans and members of other minority groups, other examples of racial profiling by law enforcement in the U.S. include the Trump-era China Initiative following racial profiling against Chinese American scientists;[83][84] the targeting of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the investigation of illegal immigration; and the focus on Middle Eastern and South Asians present in the country in screenings for ties to Islamic terrorism. These suspicions may be held on the basis of belief that members of a target racial group commit crimes at a higher rate than that of other racial groups.
Fundraising Scam
On August 13, 2023, HBO released a limited documentary series entitled Telemarketers, which stars two office employees turned gonzo-journalists, Patrick J Pespas and Sam Lipman-Stern, as they reveal a billion dollar donation scam perpetrated against the American public by the largest police union in America, The Fraternal Order of Police.[85][86]
The practice of taking an arrested person on a perp walk, often handcuffed, through a public place at some point after the arrest, creating an opportunity for the media to take photographs and video of the event, has also raised concerns.[90]
Over the past decades, police departments across the country have been affected by instances of misconduct and brutality. Some prominent examples include the following:
1960s: The 1960s marked the height of the Civil rights movement, and much police misconduct came from protests that often turned violent. There were also planned attacks against police stemming directly from the force that was being used by the police against the protesters. President Lyndon Johnson created the Office of Law Enforcement Assistance in 1965. From that, much was done on the federal and local level, such as enhanced training for police personnel. Police officers at that time were often made up of ex-military members who had little training and were left to learn their skills during their job experiences. Law enforcement personnel were also responsible to attend college as a result.[94]
1965: The Watts riots of 1965 lasted six days and began following the arrest of Marquette Frye by a white California Highway Patrol officer on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. 34 people were killed, and more than 1,000 were injured. The riots also caused over $40million in damage.[95]
1985: On May 13, 1985, nearly five hundred police officers attempted to clear the MOVE black liberation group compound in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After a shootout between police and MOVE members involving automatic weapons and over 10,000 rounds fired, Commissioner Gregore Sambor ordered that the compound be bombed. Two one-pound bombs made of FBI-supplied Tovex were dropped from a police helicopter targeting a fortified, bunker-like cubicle on the roof of the house. The resulting explosions ignited a fire from fuel for a gasoline-powered generator stored in the rooftop bunker. The fire spread and eventually destroyed approximately sixty-five nearby houses. Eleven people, including five children aged 7 to 13, died in the resulting fire.[citation needed]
1991: In March 1991, Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department, while attempting to arrest Rodney King, used what many believed was excessive force. Four LAPD officers used physical force on King after he resisted arrest. A bystander videotaped the incident and later supplied it to local media. The officers were charged with assault and using excessive force, with all officers acquitted of the assault, and three of the four officers acquitted of using excessive of force, during the initial trial. This led to the citywide 1992 Los Angeles riots, during which 63 people were killed and 2,373 were injured; it ended only after the California Army National Guard, the United States Army, and the United States Marine Corps provided reinforcements to re-establish control.[94]
2006: Sean Bell was fatally shot on the night before his wedding. It was reported that the police had shot over 50 times at Bell and two of his friends that he was with.[96]
2014: Michael Brown was shot by a police officer after struggling with the officer and attempting to take the officer's gun. His death prompted citywide riots and protests that lasted approximately 5 days.[96]
2016: Philando Castile was shot by a police officer. Due to the rise of social media and cell phones, it is now easy for people to broadcast police use of force incidents that they see. The trend started with Rodney King and has grown since. In this case, Castile's girlfriend live-streamed his death on Facebook. The video gained approximately 3.2million views by the next day.[97]
Special commissions, such as the Knapp Commission in New York City during the 1970s, have been used to bring about changes in law enforcement agencies.[98]:20 Civilian review boards (permanent external oversight agencies) have also been used as a means for improving police accountability. Review boards tend to focus on individual complaints, rather than broader organizational issues that may result in long-term improvements.[98]:37
The Cost of Police Misconduct Act (H.R.8908) is a bill introduced to the House on December 9, 2020, by Rep. Don Beyer, proposed while incoming chair of the United States Congressional Joint Economic Committee, which seeks to create "a publicly accessible federal database that would track police misconduct allegations and settlements at both the state and federal levels".[100][101]
"Abolish the police" graffiti in Minneapolis, Minnesota
While police resentment and calls for abolition of the police have existed in the United States for over a century, police abolition became more popular in 2014 following the killing of Michael Brown and the Ferguson unrest, with national attention being drawn to issues surrounding policing.[102][103] The roots of police abolition stem from (and are often linked to) the prison abolition movement.[104]
Authors and activists such as Angela Davis and Ruth Wilson Gilmore, who are best known for their prison abolition work, have integrated police abolition into their work when advocating against the carceral system of the United States.[105][106]
In the summer of 2016, Chicago had a multitude of abolitionist actions and protests in response to the deaths of Michael Brown and Paul O'Neal, among others. This included the occupation of an empty lot across from a Chicago Police Department property, naming it "Freedom Square", as an experiment of a world without police.[107]
Police abolition spiked in popularity following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin.[110] A super-majority of the Minneapolis City Council (9 of 12 council members) pledged in June 2020 to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department.[111] The Minneapolis Police Department's funding was ultimately restored to its original levels after a public ballot measure "to remove the Police Department and replace it..." (City Question 2 – Department of Public Safety) was rejected by voters.[112][113]
Entry qualifications
Nearly all U.S. states and the federal government have by law adopted minimum-standard standardized training requirements for all officers with powers of arrest within the state. Many standards apply to in-service training as well as entry-level training, particularly in the use of firearms, with periodic re-certification required. These standards often comply with standards promoted by the US Department of Justice and typically require a thorough background check that potential police recruits must take.
Repeated interviews, written tests, medical examinations, physical fitness tests, comprehensive background investigations, fingerprinting, drug testing, a police oral board interview, a polygraph examination, and a consultation with a psychologist are common practices used to review the suitability of candidates. Recruiting in most departments is competitive, with more suitable and desirable candidates accepted over lesser ones, and failure to meet some minimum standards disqualifying a candidate entirely. Police oral boards are the most subjective part of the process and often disqualifies the biggest portion of qualified candidates.[117] Departments maintain records of past applicants under review, and refer to them in the case of either reapplication or requests between other agencies.
Police academies exist in every state and also at the federal level. Policing in the United States is highly fragmented,[118] and there are no national minimum standards for licensing police officers in the U.S.[119] Researchers say police are given far more training on use of firearms than on de-escalating provocative situations.[120] On average, US officers spend around 21 weeks training before they are qualified to go on patrol, which is far less than in most other developed countries.[120][121] Similar European training programs can last more than three years.[121]
Police use a wide range of vehicles in their duties. Police vehicles are used for patrol, responses, and pursuits, and generally carry much of an officer's equipment, including communication devices and tools. Police vehicles in the United States have traditionally been sedans produced by the Big Three (Ford, General Motors, Stellantis), though SUVs, crossovers, pickup trucks, station wagons, and a wide variety of other vehicles have seen use among police departments historically and presently, in both standard and specialized roles.
Firearms
All police officers in the United States carry firearms while on duty and usually carry a handgun at minimum. Many are also required to be armed off-duty, and are often required to have a concealable off-duty handgun. Among the most common sidearms are models produced by Glock, Smith & Wesson, SIG Sauer, Beretta, and Heckler & Koch, usually in 9mm, .40 S&W, .357 SIG, or .45 ACP.
Some police departments allow qualified officers to carry shotguns, semi-automatic rifles, or (very rarely) submachine guns in their vehicles for additional firepower. These are typically intended to be used when their use would be necessary or ideal compared to handguns, such as when confronting an armed or armored suspect, or when a handgun would not provide the range, accuracy, or rate of fire required for the situation, such as when engaging a suspect from a distance or in close-quarters combat.
Police officers often carry an impact weapon—a baton, also known as a nightstick. The common nightstick and the side handle baton have been replaced in many departments by collapsible batons such as the ASP baton, though some departments continue to use them either as an option or out of tradition, such as the Baltimore Police Department's wooden espantoon batons. One advantage of the collapsible baton is that the wearer can comfortably sit in a patrol vehicle while still wearing the baton on their duty belt. The side handle nightstick usually has to be removed before entering the vehicle.
Taser
Police officers often carry an electroshock weapon known as a Taser. The handheld electroshock weapon was designed to incapacitate a single person from a distance by using electric current to disrupt voluntary control of muscles. An individual struck by a Taser experiences stimulation of their sensory nerves and motor nerves, resulting in strong involuntary muscle contractions. Tasers do not rely only on pain compliance, except when used in drive stun mode, and are thus preferred by some law enforcement over non-Taser stun guns and other electroshock weapons.
Uniformed police officers often wear body armor, typically in the form of a lightweight Level IIA, II or IIIA vest that can be inconspicuously worn under uniforms, though some departments allow vests to be worn above uniforms with rigs and pouches installed to replace the typical duty belt. Lightweight level IIA, II or IIIa vests are generally capable of stopping most handgun rounds. SWAT teams typically wear heavier Level III or IV tactical armored vests, often with steel or ceramic trauma plates, comparable to those worn by U.S. military personnel engaged in ground operations. Level III or IV vests are more capable of protecting officers from rifle rounds. Officers trained in bomb disposal wear bomb suits designed to protect them from the effects of an explosion when working around live ordnance. Local police foundations have also initiated programs to provide law enforcement agencies with higher level vests that provide greater protection and vests for police dogs.[126][127]
Multiple states, such as California, Washington, and Illinois, among others, have pending body-worn camera legislation that requires its police officers to be equipped with body-worn cameras when the officers are on duty.[128] Body-worn cameras are video recording devices around three inches long that cost between $129 and $900.[129] There are different body-worn camera models, but a standard body-worn camera includes an on and off switch that enables the image capturing technology to record and store data in the cloud.
Body-worn cameras have become standard due to the rise of complaints about police brutality across the nation.[130] Supporters argue that the use of a body-worn camera allows evidence to be viewed from an unbiased perspective. Body-worn camera models are being developed that are intended to resolve the technology's limitations, such as better audio capturing technology and battery life.
In recent years police have recruited unmanned surveillance devices such as small throwable robotics and flying drones to conduct reconnaissance in dangerous locations. These devices can be used to identify the presence of a hostage, locate and/or identify subjects, and reveal the layout of a room. The devices do all this by transmitting real-time audio and video to the pilot,[131] giving police an advantage when they cannot directly see a suspect or enter a location where they are needed.[132] Some other uses for this device may be bomb detection, crash investigations, as well as searching suspicious vehicles.[133]
Flying drones are also being enlisted to help police in dangerous situations such as a barricaded suspect or a hostage situation. These drones increase safety by providing information that can be used in mapping and planning.[134] These devices equipped with cameras allow officers to get a bird's eye view of a scene in an emergency,[132] allowing responders to safely get much closer to a scene than they could if they went in on foot.[132]
Grappler: "The Grappler is a device that uses a heavy-duty nylon net deployed from the front of a pursuing police vehicle, and the net wraps around the rear tire of the suspect vehicle, Bringing a pursuit to a controlled stop."[135][136][137][138]
Law enforcement in the United States uses a variety of VHF, UHF, or digital trunked radio transceivers mounted in their vehicles, with individual officers carrying portable handsets or ear-worn headsets for communication when away from their vehicles. Frequencies, channels, equipment, and radio usage procedures vary by jurisdiction.
Some agencies have implemented encrypted radio systems which prevent the general public from listening in to their communications with radio scanners. The decision to use encrypted radios may be compelled onto the agency in some situations, while others adopt encryption voluntarily.[139][140][141][142]
Depending on the organization and structure of emergency service agencies in the jurisdiction where a 911 call is made, the call may be answered at a public safety answering point that is located in a local police, county sheriff/police, state police/highway patrol, fire department, or emergency medical service agency dispatching facility; alternatively, some agencies or municipalities have combined their resources and personnel into dedicated or joint answering facilities.[143][144][145][146]
Once a call is received and the relevant information is collected, a dispatcher will dispatch the call by recording the incident information into a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) and broadcasting the call over a dispatch radio channel (specific procedures vary by jurisdiction). Officers may have access to a mobile data terminal (MDT) or mobile digital computer (MDC) which allows them to interface with the CAD as well as search for other information such as looking up license plates.[147][148][149]
Some CAD programs include a record management system (RMS) which is a type of program used to write and store police reports and incident notes.[150]
National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS)
A variety of national, regional, state, and local information systems are available to law enforcement agencies in the U.S., with different purposes and types of information. One example is the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS),[151] an interstate justice and public safety network owned by the states supporting inquiry into state systems for criminal history, driver's license and motor vehicle registration, as well as supporting inquiry into federal systems, such as the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Law Enforcement Support Center, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) National Drug Pointer Index (NDPIX), and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Aircraft Registry and the Government of Canada's Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC).[152]
NLETS operates primarily through a secure private network through which each state has an interface to the network that all agencies within the state operate through. The federal and international components operate very similarly. Users include all U.S. states and territories, some federal agencies, and certain international agencies. The primary operational site for the network is housed in Arizona, with a secure backup site located in the East Central U.S.
Through the NLETS network, law enforcement and criminal justice agencies can access a wide range of information, from standard driver license and vehicle queries to criminal history and Interpol information.[153] Operations consist of nearly 1.5billion transactions a year to over one million PC, mobile, and handheld devices in the U.S. and Canada at 45,000 user agencies, and to 1.3million individual users.[151]
Depending on local, state, or federal laws, (as well as agency policy) law enforcement agencies may be required to notify the public of certain types of criminal incidents. For example, the Clery Act requires timely warnings to be published in the event of certain types of offences. Another example is California Assembly Bill No. 748 which "requires agencies to release any 'recording that relates to a critical incident,' or law enforcement shooting."[156][157]
Public safety agencies, as well as municipal governments, sometimes use notification systems that the public can voluntarily enroll in to receive alerts or notices for public safety or law enforcement related incidents.[158][159]
Other methods of emergency information dissemination used by law enforcement include Amber alerts and Silver Alerts.
In 2008, federal police agencies employed approximately 120,000 full-time law enforcement officers, authorized to make arrests and carry firearms in the United States.[160]
The 2008 Bureau of Justice Statistics' Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA), found there were 17,985 state and local law enforcement agencies employing at least one full-time officer or the equivalent in part-time officers.[161]
In 2008, state and local law enforcement agencies employed more than 1.1million people on a full-time basis, including about 765,000 sworn personnel (defined as those with general arrest powers). Agencies also employed approximately 100,000 part-time employees, including 44,000 sworn officers.[161]
From 2004 to 2008, overall full-time employment by state and local law enforcement agencies nationwide increased by about 57,000 (or 5.3%). Sworn personnel increased by about 33,000 (4.6%), and nonsworn employees by about 24,000 (6.9%). From 2004 to 2008, the number of full-time sworn personnel per 100,000 U.S. residents increased from 250 to 251.[161] From 1992 to 2008, the growth rate for support personnel was more than double that of sworn personnel.[162]
Local police departments were the largest employer of sworn personnel, accounting for 60% of the total. Sheriffs' offices were next, accounting for 24%. About half (49%) of all agencies employed fewer than 10 full-time officers. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of sworn personnel worked for agencies that employed 100 or more officers.[161]
In 2019, the FBI estimated that approximately 1,003,270 law enforcement personnel were employed nationwide and distributed across more than 13,250 agencies. Of those, 697,195 were sworn officers, with 306,075 civilian employees. According to FBI UCR's the total number of agencies (including federal agencies) in the United States dropped from 19,071 to 18,794 (excluding 277 federal agencies).[163]
Demographics
Law enforcement has historically been a male-dominated profession. There are approximately 18,000 law enforcement agencies at federal, state, and local level, with more than 1.1million employees.[164] There are around 12,000 local law enforcement agencies, the most numerous of the three types.[164] In a 2013 survey, the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics found that 72.8% of local police officers were white. Black or African American were 12.2% (the black population in the United States is roughly 13%) and Latino or Hispanic are 11.6%. Women made up 17% of full-time sworn officers.[164] Women, Asian, and Hispanic officers are significantly under-represented in police forces. Many law enforcement agencies are attempting to hire a diversity of recruits to better represent their communities.[164]
Changes in personnel numbers
Fifteen of the 50 largest local police departments employed fewer full-time sworn personnel in 2008 than in 2004. The largest declines were in Detroit (36%), Memphis (23%), New Orleans (13%), and San Francisco (10%).[161]
Salary varies widely for police officers, with most being among the top third of wage-earners, age 25 or older, nationwide.[165] The median annual wage for criminal investigators was $86,940 and $65,540 for patrol officers, in May 2020. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $38,420, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $146,000.[166]
The median wages for police and detective occupations in May 2020 were as follows:[166]
$86,940 for detectives and criminal investigators
$72,580 for transit and railroad police
$65,540 for police and sheriff's patrol officers
$58,040 for fish and game wardens
Deaths
San Diego Police Department officers and U.S. Marines carrying the coffin of an officer killed in the line of duty in 2011An infographic intended for police officers and firemen outlining how to avoid being struck by passing cars at roadside incidents
The main cause of death to law enforcement officers are roadway related incidents. This includes both crashes and struck-by incidents. Between the years of 2011 and 2020, there were a total of 1,387 officer line-of-duty deaths excluding COVID-19 related deaths. Of these deaths, 286 officers died because of crashes or 21% of total deaths. In addition, 114 officers died because of struck-by incidents or 8% of total deaths.[167]
Between 2005 and 2019, over 200 law enforcement officers died because of struck-by incidents.[168] These deaths account for 24% of motor vehicle-related officer deaths. This can occur in many situations, but commonly occurs at traffic stops when officers are in or near roadways.
According to 2017 FBI figures and stated above, the majority of officer deaths on the job were the result of accidents rather than homicides. Civilians faced a homicide rate of 5.6 per 100,000, while police faced a homicide rate of 3 per 100,000.[169]
Throughout 2021, 262 officers have died from various medical conditions, the two leading causes were contracting COVID-19 (242) and heart attack (17), with 1 death associated with responding to the September 11 attacks. As of December 2021, line-of-duty officer deaths totaled 126 (felonious and accidental).[170]
Since January 1, 2022, authorized agencies are able to submit suicide information for their officers, based on the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act, enacted by the United States Congress in June 2020.[174][175]
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 police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers encompass arrest and the use of force legitimized by the state via the monopoly on violence. The term is most commonly associated with the police forces of a sovereign state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility. Police forces are often defined as being separate from the military and other organizations involved in the defense of the state against foreign aggressors; however, gendarmerie are military units charged with civil policing. Police forces are usually public sector services, funded through taxes.
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".
Transit police are specialized police agencies employed either by a common carrier, such as a transit district, railway, railroad, bus line, or another mass transit provider or municipality, county, district, or state.
Special police usually describes a police force or unit within a such an agency whose duties and responsibilities are significantly different from other forces in the same country or from other personnel within the same agency, although there is no consistent international definition. Generally, special police personnel hold some level of police powers; sometimes they hold the same powers and authority of other law enforcement officers within their jurisdiction, but at a minimum they will typically possess detainment and arrest authority. 'Special police' is also occasionally used when referring to an 'elite' law enforcement agency or unit, such as special weapons and tactics (SWAT) units or other similar paramilitary forces who have some level of police power. 'Special police' may also be used to describe individuals who are granted police powers incidental to their primary duties, such as welfare fraud investigators, certain security guards, child welfare investigators, and agricultural inspectors. Special police personnel may be armed or unarmed.
State police, provincial police or regional police are a type of sub-national territorial police force found in nations organized as federations, typically in North America, South Asia, and Oceania. These forces typically have jurisdiction over the relevant sub-national jurisdiction, and may cooperate in law enforcement activities with municipal or national police where either exist.
Law enforcement in Australia is one of the three major components of the country's justice system, along with courts and corrections. Law enforcement officers are employed by all three levels of government – federal, state/territory, and local.
A law enforcement officer (LEO), or police officer or peace officer in North American English, is a public-sector or private-sector employee whose duties primarily involve the enforcement of laws, protecting life & property, keeping the peace, and other public safety related duties. Law enforcement officers are designated certain powers & authority by law to allow them to carry out their responsibilities.
The Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) is a division of the United States Coast Guard that investigates crimes where the U.S. Coast Guard has an interest. It is composed of civilian (GS-1811), active duty, reserve enlisted, and warrant officer special agents.
The Alaska State Troopers, officially the Division of Alaska State Troopers (AST), is the state police agency of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a division of the Alaska Department of Public Safety (DPS). The AST is a full-service law enforcement agency that handles both traffic and criminal law enforcement. The AST is also involved in apprehending fugitives as part of the Alaska Fugitive Task Force, an inter-agency collaborative of Alaska police departments that cooperates with police agencies throughout the United States and less commonly with Interpol in apprehending wanted men and women. Unlike many lower 48 states, the AST also serves as Alaska’s primary environmental law enforcement agency; troopers assigned to the AST’s Division of Alaska Wildlife Troopers are known as "Alaska Wildlife Troopers" and primarily serve as game wardens, although they retain the same powers as other Alaskan state troopers.
The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) is a division of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. It is Florida's highway patrol and is the primary law enforcement agency charged with investigating traffic crashes and criminal laws on the state's highways.
Private police or special police are types of law enforcement agencies owned and/or controlled by non-government entities. Additionally, the term can refer to an off-duty police officer while working for a private entity, providing security, or otherwise performing law enforcement-related services. Officers engaging in private police work have the power to enforce the law. However, the specific authority they have, and the terms used for it, vary from one place to another.
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.
In many countries, particularly those with a federal system of government, there may be several law enforcement agencies, police or police-like organizations, each serving different levels of government and enforcing different subsets of the applicable law.
The Smithsonian Institution Office of Protection Services, often referred to as the Smithsonian Police, is the guard and security police force of the Smithsonian Institution.
Law enforcement in New York City is carried out by numerous federal, state, city and private agencies. New York City has the highest concentration of law enforcement in the United States.
In the United States, the state police is a police body unique to each U.S. state, having statewide authority to conduct law enforcement activities and criminal investigations. In general, state police officers or highway patrol officers, known as state troopers, perform functions that do not fall within the jurisdiction of a county’s sheriff, such as enforcing traffic laws on state highways and interstates, overseeing security of state capitol complexes, protecting governors, training new officers for local police forces too small to operate an academy and providing technological and scientific services. They also support local police and help to coordinate multi-jurisdictional task force activity in serious or complicated cases in states that grant full police powers statewide.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs Police, Office of Justice Services, also known as BIA Police, is the law enforcement arm of the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs. The BIA's official mission is to "uphold the constitutional sovereignty of the Federally recognized Tribes and preserve peace within Indian country". It provides police, investigative, corrections, technical assistance, and court services across the over 567 registered Indian tribes and reservations, especially those lacking their own police force; additionally, it oversees tribal police organizations. BIA services are provided through the Office of Justice Services Division of Law Enforcement.
A private police force, or private police department, in the United States is a law enforcement agency that is:
A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement agency is the police, but various other forms exist as well, including agencies that focus on specific legal violation, or are organized and overseen by certain authorities. They typically have various powers and legal rights to allow them to perform their duties, such as the power of arrest and the use of force.
↑ Falcone, David N., Edward L. Wells, and Ralph A. Weisheit. "The Small-Town Police Department." Policing 25.2 (2002): 371–85. ProQuest Criminal Justice Periodicals Index. Web. September 25, 2014.
↑ Batten, Ed. Donna (2010). "Community-Oriented Policing." Gale Encyclopedia of American Law (3ed.). Detroit: Gale. pp.49–51.
↑ Hadden, Sally E. (2001). Slave patrols: law and violence in Virginia and the Carolinas. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. ISBN0-674-00470-1. OCLC44860794.
1 2 Reiss Jr; Albert J. (1992). "Police Organization in the Twentieth Century". Crime and Justice. 51.
↑ "Chicago Chooses Criminologist to Head and Clean Up the Police". United Press International/The New York Times. February 22, 1960.
↑ Kelling, George L., Mary A. Wycoff (December 2002). Evolving Strategy of Policing: Case Studies of Strategic Change. National Institute of Justice. NCJ198029.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
↑ Chung, Andrew; Hurley, Lawrence; Botts, Jackie; Januta, Andrea; Gomez, Guillermo (May 8, 2020). "For cops who kill, special Supreme Court protection". Reuters. The increasing frequency of such cases has prompted a growing chorus of criticism from lawyers, legal scholars, civil rights groups, politicians and even judges that qualified immunity, as applied, is unjust. Spanning the political spectrum, this broad coalition says the doctrine has become a nearly failsafe tool to let police brutality go unpunished and deny victims their constitutional rights.
↑ Jackman, Tom (March 5, 2021). "Congress to consider bill requiring police to report their misconduct settlements". Washington Post. Retrieved July 9, 2021. Beyer and Kaine's Cost of Police Misconduct Act would require all law enforcement agencies that receive federal funds to report every judgment or settlement along with the type of misconduct, the internal personnel action taken against the officer, the source of money used to pay a judgment or settlement, and the total amount spent on such payments including bond interest and other fees.
↑ Jeffrey S. Magers, "Police Officer Standard and Training Commissions (POST Commissions)" in Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement: International (ed. Larry E. Sullivan: SAGE, 2005), pp. 349–351.
↑ Steven M. Cox, Susan Marchionna & Brian D. Fitch, Introduction to Policing (SAGE, 2015).
↑ [Grappler: What you need to know about a technology being used to end police pursuits "Grappler: What you need to know about a technology being used to end police pursuits"]. Fox 10 Phoenix. Retrieved May 3, 2024.{{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
1 2 3 4 Gupta, Vanita; Yang, Jenny R. (October 2016). "ADVANCING DIVERSITY IN LAW ENFORCEMENT". U.S. Department of Justice Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: 10. Retrieved December 10, 2018.
↑ "About ODMP". odmp.org. Officer Down Memorial Page, Inc. Archived from the original on April 27, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2020. More than 24,000 officers have made the ultimate sacrifice in the United States since 1786 and ODMP is honored to preserve their memories and give friends, family, other officers, and citizens alike the opportunity to remember them and honor their sacrifices.
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