Understanding Different Policing Organizations

There are different policing organizations present in every community that keep that community safe. These organizations may include:

• The neighborhood watch
• Local police
• State police
• FBI

Though it depends on what is going on in the community at the time, one or all of these organizations is likely present in your community working to keep community members safe.

Police

Police officers do many things, including protecting civilian life and property, handling crowd control, enforcing criminal law, regulating traffic, conducting criminal investigations, and other public safety duties. There are different types of police officers, as well. The main division is between uniformed police and detectives.

Uniformed Police

Uniformed police handle more preventive duties than detectives. They are the police who go on patrol and respond to emergencies and other incidents, as opposed to solving crimes which have already been committed. They wear uniforms because the duties they perform require individuals and civilians to immediately recognize that they are dealing with an officer of the law. They perform duties such as traffic control, stopping or detaining motorists, giving speeding tickets or moving violations, issuing parking tickets and active crime response and prevention. Uniformed officers make up the majority of most police forces. 

Detectives

Police detectives investigate crimes with the intent to solve them after they have been committed and after uniformed officers have taken a look at the scene.  Investigations can take weeks or months to be concluded and while investigations are underway detectives can spend much of their time conducting interviews and being in courtrooms. Detectives generally account for about 15%-25% of a police department’s personnel. Detectives do not wear uniforms, but instead wear generally wear business attire. Sometimes detectives will be "Plainclothes" officers and will wear more casual clothing, in order to blend in with the general public. 

Specialized Units

Many law enforcement organizations are comprised of specialized units for dealing with specific crimes. This organizes law enforcement into more specific categories than just uniformed officers and detectives. Some of the special categories departments might be divided up into are:

• Gangs
• Fraud
• Homicide
• Robbery
• Vice
• Burglary

Organizations other than your local police have police forces as well. The military has their own police as well, known as MPs, or “military police”.

Going further beyond local police departments, the federal government employs a number of police forces with specialized jurisdictions. Some examples are the Federal Protective Service, which polices government buildings; the postal police, who police postal buildings; the Park Police, who police national parks, etc.