Police in America. Steven G. Brandl

      Photo 3.4 Patrol officers typically conduct initial investigations of crimes and detectives conduct follow-up investigations. However, it is becoming more common for patrol officers to have increased investigative responsibilities.

      Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard via AP

      Tactical Enforcement

      Many police departments have a tactical enforcement unit (TEU) to handle high-risk situations, such as hostage or barricade situations, and to execute high-risk arrest and search warrants. In large departments, officers are assigned to the TEU on a regular, full-time basis. In smaller departments, the TEU consists mostly of officers who are assembled to handle particular situations as needed. TEU officers receive special training and equipment to handle the associated risks of their assignments.

      tactical enforcement unit (TEU): A police unit that handles high-risk criminal situations, such as hostage situations and the execution of certain arrest and search warrants.

      Large police departments may also have a specially designated bomb squad. These officers are responsible for dealing with confirmed or suspected explosives in whatever situation they may be discovered. These materials can be properly and safely neutralized with special training and equipment.

      Youth or Juvenile Bureau

      Officers and detectives who work in a juvenile bureau may be responsible for conducting investigations in which the victim or offender is a juvenile. School resource officers, school liaison officers, and DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) officers may also be assigned to a juvenile bureau.

      Communications

      Virtually all police departments have a communications/dispatch unit. This unit is usually staffed by civilians. Their job is to receive emergency and nonemergency calls for service and to dispatch officers to these calls.

      Internal Affairs

      The internal affairs unit is responsible for investigating citizen complaints against officers as well as internally generated complaints (officers filing complaints against each other, supervisors filing complaints about officers, officers filing complaints against supervisors). Internal affairs investigators are often responsible for investigating officer-involved shootings, although some departments are required to have an outside law enforcement agency exercise primary responsibility for conducting such investigations.

      internal affairs unit: A unit responsible for investigating citizen complaints against officers and internally generated complaints among police department members.

      Crime Analysis

      Crime analysis units are a relatively new addition to larger police departments. Usually staffed by civilians with advanced education and training in crime analytics, these units are responsible for identifying trends and patterns in criminal incidents, locating crime hot spots, conducting analyses of offender networks and crimes, and identifying high-rate offenders. They provide this information to investigators to assist in criminal identification and apprehension and to the patrol unit to inform patrol allocation and enforcement decisions. Crime analysis is often associated with predictive policing, which is discussed in more detail in Chapter 14.

      Types and Levels of Law Enforcement Agencies

      In the United States, law enforcement is provided at the local, county, state, and federal government levels. Agencies at each level are briefly described here.

      Local Police

      In 2016, there were 12,267 local (e.g., city, village) police departments.²³ These departments employed approximately 468,000 full-time sworn officers and 131,000 full-time civilians.²⁴ Included in these totals were a few police departments operating at the county level (county sheriff’s departments, not police departments, typically provide police services at the county level). About 65% of municipalities and towns in the United States do not have their own police department. Policing services in these areas are provided by the county in which the town is located (see below). The total number of local police departments in the nation is constantly changing, as some towns decide to form their own police department and others decide to dissolve theirs and rely on county sheriff’s departments instead. Decisions to disband a police department are usually based on financial considerations, as policing services are expensive.

      Most of the 12,267 local police departments are quite small. Approximately 51% of all local departments (6,224 of 12,267) employ fewer than ten full-time officers,²⁵ but in total, these departments employ only about 5% of all officers. Only 5% of local departments (665 of 12,267) employ 100 or more sworn officers. These 665 departments employ the majority of all sworn officers. The most important takeaway here is that while most police departments in the nation are quite small, most police officers work in larger departments (see Figure 3.6).

      County Sheriff’s Departments

      The vast majority of counties in the United States have a sheriff’s department; in 2016, there were 3,012 in the nation.²⁶ Only four states (Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Rhode Island) and Washington, D.C., do not have sheriff’s departments. Sheriff’s departments employ about 173,000 full-time sworn officers and 186,000 civilians.²⁷ Compared to local and state law enforcement agencies, sheriff’s departments have a large representation of civilian personnel; many of these agencies employ substantially more civilians than sworn officers.

      Description

      Figure 3.6 The Five Largest Police Departments in the United States

      Source: Uniform Crime Report, 2017 (Washington, D.C.: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2018).

      Approximately 25% (757) of sheriff’s departments employ less than ten officers.²⁸ These 757 departments combined account for less than 2% of all sworn officers who work in sheriff’s departments. Twelve percent (364) of sheriff’s departments employ 100 or more full-time sworn officers; these agencies account for approximately 65% of all sworn officers who work in sheriff’s departments.²⁹ So, similar to local police departments, while a sizable share of county sheriff’s departments are quite small, most sworn officers work in larger agencies (Figure 3.7).

      As with local police departments, larger sheriff’s departments are more likely to exhibit greater diversity in terms of officer gender and race. Overall, 14% of sworn officers in sheriff’s departments are female, and 22% are racial minorities.³⁰

      Sheriff’s departments have several responsibilities. First, with a few exceptions, these agencies are responsible for law enforcement in the county, on county land (e.g., parks, county roads, and highways), and in towns and villages that do not have their own police department. Second, about 75% of all sheriff’s departments are responsible for operating at least one county jail. Third, they may have responsibility for providing court security, transporting prisoners to and from jail and court, and serving processes (e.g., restraining orders, court summons, eviction notices). The allocation of officers and other resources to the various functions of the sheriff’s departments depends much on the characteristics of the county. Compared to urban counties, sheriff’s departments of more rural counties may allocate a larger portion of resources to law enforcement responsibilities because rural counties are likely to have fewer local police departments to provide services. On the other hand, sheriff’s