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CRJU 101-4SA
Assignment # 1
Role of Local, State, and Federal Law
Enforcement LaKyle McIlwain
July 12, 2020
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Role of Law Enforcement: Local, State, and Federal
Law enforcement plays a major role in all sectors of society
whether it is at the local, state, or federal level. These agencies
perform such duties as: “enforcing the law, maintaining order,
preventing crime, and providing
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,
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.
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officers can be viewed as the
most detectible representation of our criminal justice system through
the publics eyes, however the differences between the levels of law
enforcement is not always detectable. This paper will attempt to
describe the role of law enforcement at the local, state, and federal
level.
Local Law Enforcement
Local law enforcement deals with the vast majority of crimes
such as, robbery, burglary, criminal domestic violence, vehicle stops,
and medical emergencies just to name a few. Law enforcement at
this level has what is said to be general law enforcement authority.
Local law enforcement works under the authority of the local
governing body within the town, city, or county in which it was
created. Community policing is done at this level, there is more of an
emphasis placed on keeping order and serving the community. There
are several types of local law enforcement agencies, however the
two most common are municipal police and county sheriff’s
departments.
The sheriff’s department is usually tasked with policing the rural
areas of the county, as most towns or cities have a municipal
agency. Sometimes however, a town may be too small to incorporate
its own law enforcement agency; in this case, the county sheriff’s
department is responsible for policing the area. Sheriff’s departments
may also be tasked with such duties as operating jails, serving as
school resource officers, and serving court orders. Municipal agencies
are tasked with policing within the confines of the town or city limits;
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they can assist county, state, or federal agencies upon
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request. They are usually charged with patrolling and investigation of
crime within a single town or city.
Within the local law enforcement arena, jurisdiction sometimes
can be
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the official authority or power to impose legal decisions
and/or judgment. Usually within the confines of local law
enforcement, jurisdiction belongs to the agency in charge of the area
in which the crime is committed. Municipal agencies would have
jurisdiction within the confines of its city or town limits while the
county sheriff’s department has jurisdiction in the outer lying areas
that do not fall under municipal agency within the county.
State Law Enforcement
State law enforcement usually patrols state highways, while
two-thirds of the states give general police powers to the agency
(Cole et al., 2017, sec. 4-2b). State law enforcement not only patrol
state highways, they also provide general law enforcement services
in rural areas where there is not a department to serve the
community. They also handle statewide drug investigations. State law
enforcement runs crime labs to assist local law enforcement with
criminal investigations. State law enforcement also investigates local
law enforcement cases that derive within the department involving
officers.
Other operations of state law enforcement include areas such as
operating and upkeep of the sex offenders’ registry, and the offering
of concealed weapons permit. The state law enforcement division
assists other law enforcement agencies with manpower and technical
assistance, while conducting investigations involving the state as
mandated by the Governor and Attorney General. Departments within
state law enforcement agencies may consist of an alcohol and
narcotics division, counter terrorism, homeland security, and forensic
services. Other services offered by the state law enforcement are
security, private investigations, community relations, and state
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constable [ CITATION SLE20 \l 1033 ]. Although state law enforcement
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does not work on the same level as local law enforcement, they
provide a variety of services to assist the local law enforcement
officials.
Federal Law Enforcement
Federal law enforcement, part of the executive branch of the
national government, works under the auspice of Congress. They
deal with such crimes as drug trafficking, human trafficking, insider
stock trading, terrorism, and organized crime among other
investigative crimes (Cole, et al., 2017, sec. 4-2a). One sector of
federal law enforcement is the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation);
“an investigative agency within the U.S. Department of
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the jurisdiction of
another agency, just as state law enforcement. The FBI has several
main concerns it prides itself with: protecting the U.S. from terrorist
attacks, foreign intelligence operations, cyber-based attacks, and
high- technology crimes; combatting public corruptions, major white-
collar crimes, transnational and national criminal organizations, and
significant violent crimes (Cole, et al., 2017, sec. 4-2a). The FBI also
assists state and local law enforcement through the use of crime
labs, training programs, and database searches.
Although the FBI is the most thought of agency when viewing
federal law enforcement, there are other agencies within the federal
law enforcement sector including Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). These agencies deal with
importation, sale, and distribution of controlled substances, tax
violation laws, alcohol, gun control, bombings, and tobacco. The
federal law enforcement also house U.S. Marshals who provide such
services as courthouse security, federal prisoner transport, witness
protection, and the pursuit of fugitives. Other departments within
federal law enforcement are that of “Department of Homeland
Security, Customs and Border Protection, the Secret Service, and the
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Transportation Security Administration” (Cole, et al., 2017, sec. 4-2a).
Federal law enforcement, when investigating criminal activity, have
jurisdiction when
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there are multiple jurisdictions within the crime itself and the elevated
nature of the crime such as trafficking, drug smuggling, counterfeiting,
etc. across multiple states.
Conclusion
Federal, state, and local law enforcement act in the same
manner when dealing with protecting, serving, crime prevention, and
public service. Although they work in different capacities and carry
different jurisdictional powers, they must work together to ensure the
safety of the people they have vowed to protect and the United
States of America. There are benefits as well as challenges of the
agencies working in conjunction with one another. It can be difficult
when one agency takes over and investigation and attempts to leave
the initial agency out of the loop.
Each law enforcement agency provides assistance to the other
agencies, mostly through technological aspects. With the vast growth
of cybercrime, federal law enforcement provide assistance to state
and local law enforcement through the use of its “crime laboratory,
training programs, and its databases of fingerprints, stolen vehicles,
and missing persons” (Cole, et al., 2017, sec. 4-2a). The sharing of
information across the different levels of law enforcement improves
the ability of each agency to prevent, detect, and respond to acts of
terrorism and multiple state criminal activity. Shared information is
done fundamentally through various information systems. “Criminal
history records, law enforcement incident reports, records of judicial
actions and decisions, and watch lists of known and suspected
terrorist” (DNI, 2020, para. 1) are all sources of vital information
shared across agencies. Having this real time data assist in
capaturing felons and the reduction of captial crimes.
Benefits deriving from these agencies working collectively is
shown through the acts of community crime prevention. Federal law
enforcement has provided funding for such community crime
prevention programs to be organized. The training of officers to take
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on the role of being over such a program is done through federal law
enforcement. Homeland security, over
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the past few years, is a significant factor in the collaboration of law
enforcement agencies. The emphasis on homeland security widens
the range of information that needs to be shared amongst the
agencies. Information in regards to “criminal activities and
organiztions to montior motorcyle gangs, hate groups, drug traffickers
and organized crime” (Cole, et al., 2017, sec. 5- 9a) should be shared
across agencies to deter this type of crime as well as solving crimes in
relation to these types of activities.
Local and state law enforcement are provided with trainings
through federal law enforcement that focuses on what elements
need to be looked for and who needs to be contacted with such
information regarding suspicious activity. State and local fusion
centers have been formed to assist in this shared information
process. Within these centers, information is compiled and analyzed
then sent out to various law enforcement agencies to assist in the
ellimination of radical groups, phony charitable organizations, foreign
country linked groups, bomb-making operations, etc.. Working
together amongst these agencies, provides a broader range of
information which assist in a more timely reaction to dealing with
crimes of high level capacity.
There are some challenges that law enforcement agencies
may encounter when attempting to collaborate across agencies.
One would be the break in communiciation within the information
technology system.
Sometimes different words or jargon is used within agenicies leading
to information being misinterpreted across the agencies. Another
challenge is the timeliness of information being put into databases in
order for all levels of law enforcement to use said information. If
informatin is not input in a timely manner, a crime that could have
been detered or crimincal that could be off the street may not occur
because some individual thought the input of data could wait a
couple of days. While federal, state, and local law enforcement work
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on different levels, they all carry out the same functions; to serve,
protect, enforcing the law, maintaining order, and preventing crime.
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