Читать книгу Criminology For Dummies - Steven Briggs - Страница 27

Of the 18,000 police agencies in the United States, most of them are local agencies, which means they’re city police or county sheriffs. These agencies handle most of the emergency calls for police services. In addition to responding to 9-1-1 calls, however, local police patrol the streets and enforce traffic laws. In fact, the only interaction most people have with a cop is getting pulled over for a traffic violation.

Although local agencies can range in size from one officer to thousands, most departments have the following categories of cops:

 Patrol officers respond to 9-1-1 calls and drive the streets to try to discourage crime with their presence.

 Sergeants typically supervise five to ten officers.

 Detectives conduct criminal investigations. Rather than just responding to a 9-1-1 call and writing a report, a detective typically is assigned more complex cases that require longer-term investigations. A smaller police department may have just a general detective unit, while a larger department may have detectives who specialize in specific types of crime, such as homicide.

 Management includes lieutenants, captains, and the chief of police or sheriff.

In Chapter 16, I discuss the functions of all these cops in detail.