Chapter 2
Organizing Public Security in the United States
Learning Objectives
LO1 Describe the responsibilities, budgets, and personnel numbers for local, state, and federal
law enforcement agencies, and discuss the differences between them.
LO2 Identify and discuss the various conflicting and complementary roles of law enforcement at
the metropolitan, county, campus, and tribal law enforcement levels and the role of each in
immigration enforcement.
Lesson Plan
Correlated to PowerPoints
I. The U.S. Public Security Industry
Learning Objective 1: Describe the responsibilities, budgets, and personnel numbers for local,
state, and federal law enforcement agencies, and discuss the differences between them.
A. Law enforcement is primarily the responsibility of local governments
1. Law enforcement is primarily the responsibility of local governments—57.6
2. For the latest reporting year, local, state, and federal agencies spent approximately
66.5 percent of the nation’s entire criminal justice budget.
5. Law enforcement in the United States has developed over the years based on a
philosophy of local control, which is the formal and informal use of local
neighborhood forms of control to deter abhorrent behaviors.
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Class Discussion/Activity:
Law enforcement is primarily the responsibility of local governments (57.6 percent of the
nation’s law enforcement employees work at the local level). Why do we not have or want a
national police force?
What-If Scenario
You are a local law enforcement agency head. You are faced with budget cuts to your agency
that may cause your agency to disband. You want to maintain local control and still provide
service to your community. What are some of the tasks you must implement to (1) continue as a
local agency, (2) coordinate with other agencies, and (3) investigate the possibility of
consolidation?
B. Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS)
1. Every few years the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) attempts to paint a picture
of law enforcement personnel and practices in its LEMAS program.
2. For the latest reporting period, state and local governments in the United States
C. Generalizations about the U.S. law enforcement industry
2. U.S. law enforcement industry is tremendously diverse and fragmented
4. There are many employment opportunities in U.S. law enforcement at the federal,
state, and local levels
D. Sworn law enforcement employee average
II. Local Law Enforcement
See Assignment 1
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1. Vast majority of all the law enforcement employees in the United States
2. Includes metropolitan police and sheriff’s offices.
B. Metropolitan Law Enforcement
1. The largest local department is the New York Police Department (NYPD) with
about 36,023 sworn officers
2. The largest county police departments (not sheriff’s offices) in the United States
a. Miami-Dade County, Florida, Police Department with about 3,120
officers
3. Most police officers today work for these metropolitan police departments
C. County Law Enforcement
1. Most counties in the United States are patrolled by a sheriff’s department under
the leadership of an elected sheriff.
2. Ninety-six percent of sheriffs’ offices are responsible for traditional law
enforcement functions
Class Discussion/Activity:
The role of the sheriff has evolved in several stages since the early English sheriff (shire-reeve).
What are the responsibilities of the sheriff today?
D. Rural and Small-Town Law Enforcement
What-If Scenario
You are the chief of a small-town (population 20,000) law enforcement agency. Your town
council expects your officers to address the drug problems, assist citizens with their problems
(responding to “social” calls for service), enforce traffic laws, arrest criminals, and all the
functions of a large agency. How do you prioritize these duties with a police force of 10 people?
What do you tell the town council that you can and cannot do? You must fulfill all these
obligations.
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1. Eighty-seven percent of police departments have 25 or fewer officers.
3. Gangs are becoming a problem in rural areas and small towns.
2. Rural and small-town law enforcement agencies engage in mutual assistance
3. National Center for Rural Law Enforcement (NCRLE)
a. Provides management education and training courses ranging from
principles of supervision to detailed courses on the legal aspects of
E. Indian Country and Tribal Law Enforcement
1. The governmental power to make or enforce laws in Indian country is divided
among federal, state, and tribal governments
See Assignment 2
2. The 1994 Crime Act expanded federal criminal jurisdiction in Indian country in
such areas as guns, violent juveniles, drugs, and domestic violence.
Class Discussion/Activity:
Special jurisdiction police operate in many parts of the country. What are these special police
departments, and what exactly do they do?
F. Campus Law Enforcement
1. Most campus law enforcement agencies have working relationships with local law
enforcement and draw on their resources when needed.
Media Tool
“Responding to an Armed Intruder” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu6AVMrtkv0
o Ohio State University Police ALICE training
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o Discussion: Discuss what you see on the video. What can you do to protect yourself?
How can the local police assist the University Police?
2. Nearly all campus law enforcement agencies provided 24-hour patrol services and
3. All 4-year campuses used an e-mail alert mass notification system, and 99 percent
used text message alerts.
G. Local Law Enforcement and Illegal Immigration
What-If Scenario
Imagine you are an illegal immigrant. Would you want to be arrested by the federal government or
local government? Why?
1. Many police departments in cities, counties, and states have policies that restrict
2. Police Foundation’s report, Role of Local Police: Striking a Balance Between
3. Debate continues over local police enforcing the law against illegal immigration.
H. Law Enforcement and Sanctuary Cities
1. Sanctuary cities limit their cooperation with the federal government to help
people who are in the country illegally avoid deportation.
2. Creates a conflict for law enforcement members.
III. Law Enforcement in the Era of Reduced Budgets
Learning Objective 3: Identify recent changes in law enforcement due to the economic
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1. 2010 PERF survey indicated 47 percent of responding agencies had reduced
service due to budget cuts.
B. Law enforcement has seen a trend toward civilianization of police services as a cost-
saving measure.
What-If Scenario
You are the Sheriff of a medium-sized county of 200,000 population. You have 200 sworn
deputies that perform custodial (50 percent), patrol (40 percent), and investigation (10 percent)
duties. Your prison population is 1,200. You have just been informed you will have to reduce your
staffing by 15 percent and still maintain your required duties. You are required to keep the
assigned deputy percentage constant. You are under federal mandate to maintain a minimum force
of deputies to provide adequate staff to prison population ratios (12:1). Where do you cut and how
will you maintain the necessary ratios for all your required functions?
Class Discussion/Activity:
Discuss the effects reduced budgets have had on law enforcement. Why and how must law
enforcement learn to adjust?
IV. State Law Enforcement
Learning Objective 4: Identify the various organizational models of state law enforcement.
Class Discussion/Activity:
What are the benefits and drawbacks of the centralized and decentralized models of state law
enforcement? Which would you choose and why?
V. Federal Law Enforcement
Learning Objective 5: Describe the various roles and responsibilities of federal law
enforcement.
A. The U.S. law enforcement industry is enormous in both size and scope, tremendously
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1. Functions
2. Divisions
a. Federal Bureau of Investigation
Media Tool: “NSB Training Video”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5y5AIRFO1c
o The training video, “Law Enforcement and the National Security Branch: A Partnership to
Protect America,” was developed by the National Security Branch to educate our federal,
state, local, and tribal law enforcement partners about the NSB and its role in national
security.
o Discussion: Discuss how a single piece of information can be critical to national security.
Why is it important to have a partnership with local law enforcement?
See Assignment 6
(1) Identification Division
(3) FBI Crime Laboratory
(5) National Incident-Based Reporting System
(6) Investigatory Activities
c. Drug Enforcement Administration
d. U.S. Marshals Service
e. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives
C. Department of the Treasury
2. Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture
4. Office of Foreign Assets Control
5. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
D. Department of Homeland Security
1. The federal government, in particular, responded to 9/11 by creating the huge
cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which merged and
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2. U.S. Secret Service
Class Discussion/Activity:
The U.S. Secret Service reports to the Secretary of Treasury. What are some of the functions of the
Secret Service?
E. Department of the Interior
2. Utilizes the National Park Service, the U.S. Park Police, the Bureau of Indian
F. Department of Defense
1. Military police are organized similar to civilian police agencies.
G. U.S. Postal Service
H. Other Federal Enforcement Agencies
2. U.S. Forest Service
4. Bureau of Export Enforcement
6. Department of Labor
8. Securities and Exchange Commission
10. Federal Trade Commission
12. Environmental Protection Agency
14. Library of Congress
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16. U.S. Capitol Police
17. U.S. Mint
I. Joint Federal and Local Task Force Approach to Law Enforcement
1. Innovative approach to law enforcement by using joint federal and local task
2. The joint task force approach has also been used successfully in ongoing
programs to investigate bank robbery, arson, kidnapping, and terrorism.
Class Discussion/Activity:
Discuss the importance of joint federal and local task forces to law enforcement.
VI. International Police
Learning Objective 6: Discuss the roles and responsibilities of international police in relation to
American police.
A. Interpol: the International Criminal Police Organization
2. Police officials of any member country may initiate a request for assistance on a
case that extends beyond their country’s jurisdiction.
Media Tool: “Interpol Video”
https://www.interpol.int/News-and-media/Videos/(video_id)/7370
o An introduction to Interpol.
o Discussion: What does Interpol do? How do agencies interact with each other? What are
some of cases Interpol works on?
VII. Summary
Lecture Notes
1. What are the different types of law enforcement in the United States?
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2. Introduce several federal law enforcement agencies.
Four major U.S. cabinet departments manage, most federal law enforcement agencies and
personnel: the Department of Justice, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of
Homeland Security, and the Department of the Interior. The U.S. Department of Justice is the
3. What are some notable changes made in U.S. law enforcement following the September
11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States?
4. What are some of consequences of Operation Fast and Furious?
Operation Fast and Furious was first conceived in Washington, D.C., in October 2009 as a result
of the frustration of seeing guns bought in the United States “walking” across the border to
Mexico. By November 2009, a new strategy was proposed and put in place: Let the guns be
Key Terms
centralized model of state law enforcement Combines the duties of major criminal
investigations with the patrol of state highways. (p. 55)
decentralized model of state law enforcement Makes a clear distinction between traffic
enforcement on state highways and other state-level law enforcement functions. (p. 55)
joint federal and local task force Use of federal, state, and local law enforcement agents in a
2. You have recently been appointed as a Sheriff in a jurisdiction that has a tribal law
enforcement agency within your jurisdiction. You want to establish a good working
relationship with the tribal police. You have a meeting scheduled with the tribal police
chief in 2 weeks. To prepare for your meeting, what should you know about tribal law
enforcement and what questions should you ask? [LO 2]
3. As a newly assigned commander of a local police agency task force that responds to local
campus incidents, what must your first task be in order to prepare yourself for the
position? Who must you interact with? What “tools” are available to you and your task
force? How will you respond to an “active shooter” incident at your local campus? [LO
4. Your professor schedules a class debate on the pros and cons of the enforcement of
federal immigration laws by the local police. Which side would you take in this debate:
The local police must be involved in the enforcement of federal immigration laws, or the
local police should not be involved in the enforcement of federal immigration laws?
5. Your state law enforcement agency has been tasked with enforcing federal immigration
laws. What issues should you be prepared to address with your officers, and how would
you handle the influx of illegal immigrants to your state? Write a 3- to 5-page paper and
6. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has more than 12,560 special agents and is the
primary agency charged with the enforcement of all federal laws not falling under the
purview of other federal agencies. What are the various services that the FBI provides?
Exercise 3 at the end of the chapter. Delete?
Exercise 2 at the end of the chapter. Delete?