5 Purposes Of Policing Essay

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1.) List and explain the five basic purposes of policing in a democratic society. The criminal justice system consists of policing which involves five basic purposes in a democratic society. According to Schmalleger (2020) the five basic purposes of policing are to “enforce the law, investigate and apprehend offenders, prevent crimes, ensure peace and tranquility, and serve the community” (p.91). The first purpose of policing is to enforce the law which means they are in charge of enforcing the laws that have been established in society. The second purpose of policing is to apprehend offenders which means that the police are actively investigating a case and finding out who committed the crime. Preventing crime is the third purpose within …show more content…

A centralized model combines the “tasks of major criminal investigations” with “patrol of state highways” (Schmalleger (2020), pg. 101). With centralized state police agencies will operate a centralized identification bureau, maintain a centralized criminal records repository, and even provide support to local law enforcement in investigations. A centralized model is typically found in Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and Delaware (Schmalleger (2020). A decentralized model is the second state model and has different functions compared to the centralized model. According to Schmalleger (2020) the decentralized model creates a distinction between traffic enforcement on state highways. This organization is typically seen in southern, midwest, and sometimes western …show more content…

This evidence explains that evidence-based policing is used to guide current law enforcement in decision making. Evidence-based policing uses scientific evidence, not criminal evidence to help apply research into police work. With the use of evidence-based policing law enforcement is able to be more successful as they are using facts from research rather than their own form of beliefs and opinions. Schmalleger (2020) states “today’s EBP model has been called the single most powerful force for change in policing today” (p.120). This evidence shows that the use of EBP has caused a positive impact and outcome on law enforcement and crime

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