Organizational Management and Operations Paper Law Essay

Organizational management and operations
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Introduction
In many nations, police personnel and their corresponding functions are organized at the national level. However, in the United States, policing is fragmented into local, state, and federal levels. This fragmentation was established in the early years of the republic when people were afraid of being policed by a federally controlled police force. In recent years, the fragmentation has been justified as a means of ensuring that local problems are solved at the local level by local citizens who act as police officers. Regardless of the reasons for the fragmentation, policing at both the local, state, and federal level plays an important role in maintaining the safety of Americans. This paper examines the responsibilities, management and leadership, and organization and operations of police officers at the federal, state, and local levels.
Responsibilities
Regardless of the policing level, all the responsibilities of police officers relate to the premise of maintaining law and order. However, in recent times, movies and films have depicted the responsibility of police officers as that of investigating crimes and shooting or physically fighting with criminals before apprehending them. Of cause, police officers arrest criminals and investigate crimes, however, those two functions represent a very small fraction of the total responsibilities of police officers in the three levels. In a document called “Standards Relating to the Urban Police Function,” the American Bar Association (1973) outlined 11 responsibilities that all police officers must perform regardless of whether it is at the local, state, or federal level. Among these responsibilities include defending the constitutional rights of citizens, enabling the movement of vehicles and individuals, settling disagreements, and identifying criminals, apprehending them, and participating in court proceedings that convict them. While performing the above responsibilities, the power of state and local police officers is usually limited to the state, city or locality where they are sworn. For instance, a police officer who works for the Cleveland Police Department, Ohio, can only perform his/her responsibilities within the limits of the city of Cleveland.
Although the responsibilities outlined by the American Bar Association (1986) reflect the general duties of police officers in the country, it does not represent the actual responsibilities of police officers at the federal level. Policing at the federal level is narrow and each federal police force has certain unique duties that resemble the skills of its workforce. For instance, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) mostly deals with collecting domestic intelligence that may pose a threat to the country. Furthermore, since the FBI operates the National Crime Information Center, it is also the responsibility of the agency to provide local and state agencies with behavioral analysis services. On the other hand, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) main responsibility is to investigate the illegal trafficking of firearms and the unlawful distribution of tobacco and alcohol. The ATF also investigates the illegal storage and use of bombs and acts of terrorism and arson. However, federal police forces also perform responsibilities that are too large or complex for local and state police officers. For instance, the FBI always investigates serial killer cases where jurisdictional boundaries hinder the functioning of state and local police officers. Likewise, the U.S. Marshall Service usually assists local police departments in the transportation of criminals to municipal courts and state prisons.
Organization and operations
It is well documented that policing in the United States is organized in three levels; local, state, and federal levels. Among these levels, Local police departments account for 90% of all police departments in the country (Hickman, 2012). The organization of policing at each of the three levels is dependent on the number of people within their jurisdiction and type of operations they perform. For instance, in 2016, 50% of local police departments had fewer than ten sworn officers and 75% served a population of less than 10, 000 people, in contrast, 94% of state police departments had more than 4500 sworn officers (Hyland and Davis, 2019). In Houston, Texas, for example, apart from the Houston Police Department having more than 4500 sworn officers, there are also other small departments that perform functions that relate to internal affairs, budgeting, and planning.
At the federal level, policing is organized into eight main branches; the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE); Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF); Department of Homeland Security; U.S. Drug Enforcement Admini...