Deployment of law enforcement resources

Deploying Law Enforcement Resources

The security of the human communities represents one of the most important if not the most important priority for the authorities. Today the society is constantly faced with threats that are no longer traditional in their range or methods. From this perspective, it is essential that the law enforcement authorities be prepared and ready with the latest technology as well as the usual resources used in law enforcement actions.

Having in mind these new threats but considering as well the traditional threats to the security of the community, the police can be considered to have a number of objectives concerning the safety of our society when deploying law enforcement forces: "minimizing total index crime within the city as a whole; providing an average police response to all calls for service within some minimum time (say, two minutes); providing equal protection to all parts of the city-defining "protection" in terms of resource inputs; providing equal protection to all parts of the city-defining "protection" in terms of safety outputs; creating equal work loads on all operating" (Downs et al., 1969, 504).

According to different studies, it has been suggested that there are various types of crimes taking place in our society and being dealt with by the law enforcement authorities. In this sense, on the one hand, there are "white collar" crimes which mean "non-violent criminal offenses committed in an institutional or commercial context.(2) Examples include fraud of all kinds (including wire, mail, and bank fraud), public corruption, commercial bribery (including payment or receipt of kickbacks), antitrust violations, and environmental offenses" (Gallo, 1998). At the same time though, there are also "violent crimes" which imply "not only offenses against a person (such as murder, assault, and robbery), but also narcotics and firearms offenses" (Gallo, 1998). From this point-of-view, while for the first type of crimes there are additional resources being used in order to track down on the perpetrators, for the second type of crimes, in most cases traditional means of action are used such as police patrols.

In general terms, "patrolling (...) is used to describe a unit that is on the move and is doing something other than attacking a fixed enemy position. Patrol formations are often used during movement in hostile terrain" (Frisbee, n.d.). In a more particular approach to the activity of police activity and police patrols, their main attributions are to "protect life and property; prevent crime; detect and arrest offenders; preserve the public peace; enforce all laws, ordinances and provisions of the administrative code over which the police department has jurisdiction" (Leineweber, 2005). In this sense, the activity of the police is organized in such a manner as to ensure that these objectives which are enshrined in the police oath of allegiance are respected and accomplished.

In terms of law enforcement resources, it can be said that there are three different types of officers. In this sense, there are uniformed police officers, game wardens, and detectives (U.S. Dept. Of Labor, 2007). However, it is the uniformed police officers who are the first to report a crime and to be at the scene of the crime; therefore, it can be said that in the process of a crime prevention and crime action, they are the first to enforce the law.

The main attribution of the police officers consists in, according to the U.S. Department of Labor "maintaining regular patrols and responding to calls for service. Much of their time is spent responding to calls and doing paperwork. They may direct traffic at the scene of an accident, investigate a burglary, or give first aid to an accident victim" (2007). Therefore, they are the first to respond to a crime reporting and first to get to the crime scene. At the same time though, one of their most important attributions is to patrol the streets of a certain community and report any suspect action.

In large cities such as New York or Los Angeles, uniformed police officers are often organized in different sections. In this sense, in New York which is considered to have the most impressive police department in the United States, there are desk officers who are the ones creating the reports for the crimes and at the same time there are also field officers who patrol the streets of the neighborhoods (Mitchell, 1994). Most of the times however, when funds are not fully available for the police patrols, job cuts are conducted at the level of the patrols. This situation however has attracted the public's disapproval, especially considering the high crime rates facing large and important cities such as New York.

There are several types of police patrols for a city such as New York, depending on the needs and particularities of the city. In this sense, there is the New York Highway Patrol which controls the highways in the city, a special department related to the activities of gangs as well as other related to drug control, crime prevention, and house security. These aspects have been considered by the organization of the police Department in order to respond to the constant challenges facing the city of New York and the increasing number of crimes which take place in the boroughs, on the highways, and in ports.

There is a different type of specialization, according to the main field of operations for the police officers. In this sense, "Some police officers specialize in a particular field, such as chemical and microscopic analysis, training and firearms instruction, or handwriting and fingerprint identification. Others work with special units, such as horseback, bicycle, motorcycle, or harbor patrol; canine corps; special weapons and tactics (SWAT); or emergency response teams" (U.S. Dept. Of Labor, 2007).

Despite the fact that there is an increasing number of crimes taking place around the U.S., there is a lot of criticism concerning the methods used by police officers, especially by patrol officers who have been accused of abusing their authority and their right to enforce the law. In this sense, there have been cases in which police abuses were reported. One of the most important in this sense was the Da Silva case in which Kurt Da Silva was killed "by a Pawtucket, Rhode Island police officer after a low-speed car chase. DeSilva, who was unarmed, was suspected of driving a stolen car" (America Civil Liberties Union, 1997). It was afterwards proven that the police used excessive force in enforcing the law.

There is a wide array of methods used by the police in trying to capture potential criminals. However, they need to be proportionate to the actual crime the alleged criminals have committed. In this sense, one of the most common methods used by the police is that of the non-lethal weapons. They are an important asset for the police officer because they enable him to immobilize the suspect without causing irreversible damage. Concerning the use of non-lethal weapons, there have been both opinions for and against this method. In this sense, some have argued that the use of non-lethal weapons is good because they do not provoke the death of the individual. On the other hand, those arguing against their use consider that first, they can still cause lethal damage to the individual if the respective person is suffering from a physical injury and second they are limited in their capability to stop the perpetrator.

It is rather difficult to have a proper assessment of the utility of the use of non-lethal weapons. However, aside from such means of immobilizing the perpetrator, there are also physical techniques used by the police patrol which tend to reduce the criminal's capacity to move. These include karate and other forms of martial arts and combat moves. Still, the controversy remains over the actual use of the force, if it is proportional to the crimes allegedly committed.

Of particular focus is the situation of the deployment of forces in a case of national security such as the floods and fires which have affected the territory of the United States. In these situations, volunteers and reserves are also part of the intervention forces, aside from the police patrols. More precisely, in the most recent floods from Iowa the help of Red Cross volunteers were asked for in order to be able to resist the natural disaster and in time to rebuild the territory. A similar situation occurred in New Orleans as well when non-specialized aid was asked for because the police was overwhelmed by the situation. However, it can be said that in situations such as these, the discussion is no longer related to the issue of law enforcement but rather to that of human solidarity. Nonetheless, the presence of volunteers and reserves is crucial in such moments.