The law enforcement in the United States is considered to be a big and complex enterprise. It is estimated that there are almost eighteen thousand states , local, and federal agencies, together with a private security industry that is responsible for employing more than one million people. The main function of the law enforcement agencies includes protecting the society. Policing organizations are mainly responsible for crime prevention, law enforcement, keeping order, and public service. Law enforcement agencies are usually broken into federal, local, and state agencies that work together so that they can perform many tasks in deterring, fighting, and controlling crime. Each of these agencies works independently, but when needed, they often combine their resources with the aim of fighting crime.
Similarities and Differences between the Local, Federal, and State Organizations
The local policing agencies are often the first line of defense against any form of crime. The responsibilities of protecting the needs of the society are often shared between the local police, campus police, the sheriff’s department, municipal police, and park police (Schaible, 2012) . The operational function at the local organizational level includes providing assistance to the general public, responding to specific service calls, patrol work, and traffic duty. However, most of the officers often spend more time in patrolling and responding to calls. The police have the objective of enforcing the laws of a specific city or town and are limited to specific jurisdiction, unlike the state highway patrol that has a statewide jurisdiction. However, the local police and the state highway patrol have similar functions of controlling crime and traffic enforcement, except the fact that state highway patrol operates on the highways (Stewart, 2011) . In addition, it is worth noting that unlike the highway patrol organizations, the state police agencies operate their uniformed patrol divisions and also have criminal investigative units. In addition, they handle the general calls for services in areas that are unincorporated and also focus on traffic enforcement. Many small towns in the United States do not have the local police departments and thus, the state agencies have the responsibilities of providing law enforcement. They are usually assigned to respond to calls, investigate, meet their court-related duties, and meet their technical, training, and administrative duties. The federal agencies consist of many departments like the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) , as the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) , and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) . At the federal level, the operational functions include investigations, court operations, security and protection, enforcement, police services, and corrections-related duties (Brown, 2007) . Officers, who are at the federal level, have the same operational functions as the state and local officers, but they have a bigger jurisdiction.
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The organization and management of the three organizations consider the fact that the American system of policy is unique. There are more than eighteen thousand states , local, and federal agencies. Many of police agencies in the country are loosely connected to each other and often have overlapping jurisdiction at the government’s municipal levels. Many of the agencies are organized to have the responsibility of responding to calls, investigating specific offenses , and patrolling a specified area. The organization of the agencies is in such a way that the local agencies, more specifically, the local police departments are small and employ less than twenty-five swore officers who are on a full-time basis. Others agencies have special-purposes with the responsibility for certain territories like the airport and the park or function such as enforcement of wildlife regulations or enforcing alcohol beverage laws. The sheriffs’ department also falls under the local authority and is organized in such a way that they do not provide police patrol, but give other related services such as guarding courtrooms, providing canine services, provision of investigation assistance to the local police, and running jails. Leadership is at the local level where the sheriff is the head of the department. The leadership style provided is less formal as compared to that provided by federal and state agencies, which allows room for community policing. However, it is worth noting that local agencies are organized in such a way that is independent, without supervision or consultation. Most of their duties entail low visibility decisions, especially if the decisions do not need one to make an arrest or make reports to the office or to the supervisors (Chappell., 2009) . On the other hand, state agencies in the United States are organized as highway patrol, state investigative departments, and state police. They are closely managed by the federal statute which indicates the role of every federal agency. In addition, the federal agencies have many departments that include the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) , Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) , and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) whose main responsibilities include enforcement and investigations, followed by police service, security and protection, corrections-related duties, and court operations. It is worth noting that the federal agencies are managed by the federal statute just like the state agencies. Both the state and federal agencies experience bureaucratic leadership style, unlike the local agencies. The bureaucratic model can sometimes inhibit the level of operation among the police organizations in various ways such as hindering the growth and development of police personnel. It restricts and also discouraged effective communication and fails to give the functional system of due process. Finally, the system makes the policing organization be more militarized and thus hindering community policing.
Based on the differences and similarities between the management, organizational, operational, and administration functions of the three organizations, they work in accordance with the regulations and laws that govern the areas in which they operate. The federal agencies often abide by the federal laws and the state police agencies often operate under the laws that are provided by their statutes of operations. Finally, the local agencies are governed by the stated rules of their cities or municipalities. However, it is worth noting that the local and state police agencies are also under the governorship by the federal laws while the local agencies are also guided by the state government laws where they serve.
Conclusion
The American system of policing can be argued to be complex because of a large number of agencies which have a variety of mechanism. The main function of the law enforcement agencies includes protecting the society. Law enforcement agencies are usually broken into federal, local, and state agencies that work together so that they can perform many tasks in deterring, fighting, and controlling crime. They also have their operational, administration, management, and administrative differences and similarities such as that the issue of their jurisdiction. Another example is seen in the administration of the three agencies. More specifically, the federal agencies often abide by the federal laws and the state police agencies often operate under the laws that are provided by their statutes of operations. The local agencies, on the other hand, are governed by the stated rules of their cities or municipalities. However, it is worth noting that there are similarities in the local and state policing agencies because they are also under the governorship of the federal laws while the local agencies in the country are also guided by the state government laws where they serve
References
Brown B. (2007). Community policing in post-September 11 America: A comment on the concept of community-oriented counterterrorism. Police Practice & Research , Pp. 239-251.
Chappell A. T., &. Gibson S. A. (2009). Community policing and homeland security policing: Friend or Foe? Criminal Justice Policy Review , Pp. 274-289.
Schaible, L. (2012). Intelligence ‐ led policing and change in state law enforcement agencies. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management , pp.761-784.
Stewart, D. M. (2011). Collaboration Between Federal and Local Law Enforcement; An Examination of Texas Police Chiefs’ Perceptions. Sage Journal , Pp. 1-5.
