Historical Development of Police Agencies and their

jurisdiction

There are many different roles in which local law enforcement agencies take part in on a daily
basis. The duties, functions and responsibilities of local law enforcement agencies are broken
down into many different roles. Local law enforcement agencies are in place to provide routine
patrol of the communities within their jurisdictions, provide emergency services, maintain
records, uphold traffic enforcement laws, conduct criminal investigations / planning and
analysis, maintain property, keep within a budget, provide laboratory or forensic investigation,
create agendas, provide detention for adults and juveniles, provide public information,
community services, alcoholic testing, crime prevention communications, community relations,
internal affairs, equipment maintenance and supply, and much more.

State law enforcement agencies are charged with many different roles as well. State police are
charged with keeping the state's highways, rural areas, and many other areas within their state
safe. State police are also charged with keeping motor vehicles inspected per U.S. regulation.
Many other agencies within the state as well share many other roles with other state and local
law enforcement agencies. The state law enforcement agencies also conduct criminal
investigations, public relations and community initiatives. The difference between local and state
law enforcement agencies is their resources, staff, in some cases budgets, and jurisdictions.

Local/Municipal Law Enforcement

Local law enforcement comes to mind when most people hear the word "police." Out of all the types of
agencies, local agencies are by far the most prevalent. In 2000, the Bureau of Justice statistics reported
that there were 12,666 local police departments employing over 55% of all American law enforcement
officers. So, what do local agencies do? They provide police services to an incorporated city, or in some
cases, a whole county that has decided to merge its government or form a county police force. For the
most part, municipal agencies police more densely populated areas than county agencies. Although
many cities have rural areas, rural policing usually doesn't come to mind when one thinks of municipal
agencies. Local agencies can run from huge to very tiny.

Because of this, pay, benefits, and equipment differ greatly from agency to agency. There are many local
agencies that are wonderful places to work, paying their officers good salaries and providing solid
benefits. There are also others that are usually seen as "stepping stone" departments. These agencies
are usually very small, pay poorly, and have lackluster benefits. Many officers start their careers at these
places before they can move on to different agencies. With a large local agency, there are many
opportunities to specialize. Officers start out in patrol, but can move on to investigations, traffic units,
tactical units, K-9 units, aviation units, etc. It all depends how large and specialized the department is.
Smaller agencies do not have these specialized units. Local officers are usually covered under civil
service systems, which means that they cannot be replaced at will. This is not the case for many sheriff's
departments.

County Law Enforcement

These are county sheriff's departments. The second most prevalent type of agency, there were 3,070
sheriff's departments in 2000 employing over 20% if the country's LEOs. In most cases, the sheriff's
department does the same thing as a municipal police department, only in the unincorporated areas of
a county. Some sheriff's departments also contract with cities to provide their municipal police services.
So basically, sheriff's departments just have a larger jurisdiction. There are also some other duties of a
sheriff's department that are different from municipal police departments. The sheriff's department, in
many cases, is charged with operating the county jails. Many of them also have the responsibility to
provide courthouse security (bailiff services) and to serve various court papers, such as subpoenas. For
this reason, an applicant should carefully examine a sheriff's department before applying with one. It's
not uncommon for a sheriff's department to start a new deputy out working in the jail for several years
before they can advance to road patrol. In some sheriff's departments, corrections and patrol deputies
are separate positions, so you can't move from the jail to the road without going through the hiring
process again.

It also should be noted that some sheriff's departments do not do what one would consider "traditional
law enforcement" work. These sheriff's departments ONLY work the jails, courthouses, or serve court
papers. Usually, these departments are located in the jurisdictions where the county is served by a
county police department, or else they are a municipal sheriff's department.

Like municipal agencies, sheriff's departments can run the gamut when it comes to pay and benefits and
can range from very large to very small, with or without specialized units. Many sheriff's departments
will assist small municipal agencies in investigations that overwhelm their resources. In many
jurisdictions, sheriff's departments police the more rural areas of the county, leaving the more densely
populated cities to the local police departments. Because of this, sheriff's offices usually have a larger
geographic area to serve. This can mean backup can be farther off than it is with local agencies. Some
sheriffs offices are also not under the civil service system like the majority of local agencies. This means
that deputies work "at the will of the sheriff," and can be replaced at any time (such as when a new
sheriff is elected). For this reason, sheriff's offices can be more political than police departments.

State Law Enforcement

For the most part, state law enforcement consists of state police departments and highway patrols. In
2000, there were 49 primary state law enforcement agencies employing over 56,000 sworn officers.
These numbers do not include specialized state agencies, such as bureaus of investigation or fish and
wildlife agencies. Only Hawaii does not have either a state police department or highway patrol. Usually,
state police departments are full-service law enforcement agencies. What this means is that these
agencies are tasked with patrolling specific geographic areas, responding to calls, conducting
investigations, plus doing traffic enforcement on roadways. Think of a local or county police department,
only with a much larger jurisdiction. State police departments usually have many specialized units, such
as investigative branches, aviation units, and tactical teams. Highway patrols, on the other hand, usually
are tasked with ensuring the safety of the roadways of the state. This is done by conducting traffic and
DUI enforcement, drug interdiction, and investigating traffic crashes. Most highway patrols do not
respond to other types of calls.

Many states also have additional specialized state agencies. Some states with highway patrols have a
separate state investigative agency. For instance, Florida's FDLE conducts statewide investigations and
assists local and county agencies with complex investigations of their own. This is kind of like a "state
FBI." Lots of states also have an agency separate from the state police or highway patrol that deals with
commercial vehicle enforcement. These officers usually operate weigh stations and conduct traffic
enforcement, with their main focus being on commercial trucking.

In many cases, working for the state can mean better pay and benefits than working for a city or county
department, although this isn't always true. Working for the state also means that you can be assigned
anywhere within the state, based upon the needs of the department. While agencies usually try not to
uproot employees and transfer them hundreds of miles away, it does happen from time to time. Like
county deputies, troopers usually operate in areas where backup can be a distance away. On the
positive side, many of them also go through their shifts without direct contact with a supervisor.

Specialized Law Enforcement

In 2000, there were 1,376 agencies of special jurisdiction employing over 43,000 officers. While this
includes some of the state agencies I mentioned above, the majority of specialized agencies do not
operate on the state level. The most common types of special jurisdiction agencies are airport police
departments and campus police departments, although there are many others out there (i.e., transit
police departments, state capital police departments). As the name suggests, specialized agencies
provide law enforcement services to specific locations or entities. These are usually smaller agencies and
do not usually have the same amount of specialization as municipal or county agencies. Depending on
the state, an officer who works for a specialized agency may or may not have police authority outside of
his agency's boundaries. For example, in the State of Florida, university officers have jurisdiction on the
campus of any state university. However, they do not have jurisdiction off of university property.

The working conditions for officers working in these types of agencies is usually pretty good. Officers
don't really have to worry about policing the housing projects and the slums of the city. On the other
hand, working for an agency of this type (especially on a college campus) can be irritating at times, since
officers work under the direction of a university president or chairman of the airport authority. These
agencies usually are not known for aggressive policing. Although untrue, many people see these officers
as nothing more than security personnel. As with any agency on the local or state level, pay and benefits
can vary greatly. In Florida, these specialized agencies have a slightly higher median salary than
municipal or county agencies. Sometimes, mainly with airport departments, the agency requires an
officer to be certified as a police officer and as a firefighter or EMT.

Federal Law Enforcement

Although the Bureau of Justice Statistics didn't publish the exact number of federal agencies, 88,496 out
of 796,518 American law enforcement officers in 2000 were employed at the federal level. There are
basically two different types of federal agencies, uniformed agencies and investigative agencies
(although some do both). Uniformed federal agencies are mostly like the specialized agencies that I
mentioned above. They provide uniformed law enforcement services for a specific location, such as the
White House, United States Capital, FBI Building, US Parks, Supreme Court, various federal buildings, etc.
I'm trying to keep this brief without going into agency specifics, but certain uniformed federal agencies
operate more like security departments than police departments, while others are the opposite.

The other main type of federal agency is the investigative agency. When most people think of federal
law enforcement, this type of agency comes to mind. For the most part, these agencies have an assigned
section of the United States Code that they enforce. For example, the DEA deals with drug laws, while
the Secret Service focuses on crimes involving currency. In addition to the common agencies, all federal
departments have an Office of the Inspector General that employs criminal investigators to investigate
fraud within the department.

Working for the federal government usually means better salaries and benefits than working at the state
or local level, especially if you're employed as a criminal investigator. There really aren't variations
between agencies when it comes to pay and benefits, since most agencies are on the same general
schedule pay scale. On the negative side, working for the federal government can mean that you're at
their beck and call when it comes to relocation. While obviously not a concern with some of the
uniformed agencies, relocation can be a concern if you work for one of the more nationalized federal
agencies (especially for the new agent).

Tribal Law Enforcement

Tribal law enforcement basically is a mix between local and federal uniformed law enforcement. In
2000, there were 171 tribal agencies employing almost 2,400 LEOs. Tribal agencies are unique in that
they have jurisdiction over a sovereign indian nation. For this reason, they enforce tribal law in addition
to certain state and federal statutes. Depending on the crime and offender, a tribal agency might work
with a state or federal agency when it comes to the investigation. The FBI has the authority to
investigate all serious crimes that occur on indian land and the Bureau of Indian Affairs also assists tribal
agencies.

Working for a tribal agency can be a mix of different duties. With the prevalence of indian casinos, many
tribes use police officers as security for their casinos. Other tribal police officers police indian
reservations the same way that a local agency polices a city. Generally, pay and benefits at tribal
agencies are not as good as those at other agencies, and there can be a lot of political pressure on
officers from members of the tribal council.

Concluding Remarks

With the onset of a new millennium, American police agencies face new challenges. The terrorist
attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon changed the way in which law enforcement
collectively thinks about public safety and security. Priorities for training, equipment, strategies, and
funding have transformed policing once again – this time focusing on homeland security. Time will tell
us about the hows and whys of this transformation. This chapter has examined the history of American
police systems from the English heritage through the last years of the 20 th century. Major emphasis has
been placed on the police role, though important events that shaped the development of the police
have also been discussed. As can be seen through this review, a number of present-day issues have
their roots in different epochs of American history. For example, the idea of community policing can be
traced to the colonial period and to medieval England. Preventive patrol, legitimacy, authority, and
professionalism are 18th and 19th century concepts. Riots, disorders, and corruption are not new to
American policing, similar events occurred in the 19 th century. Thus, by virtue of studying history, we
can give contextual meaning to current police problems, ideas, and situations. By looking at the past,
present-day events can be better understood.