Читать книгу Police in America - Steven G. Brandl - Страница 132

Perhaps the first and most straightforward responsibility of the police is to enforce the law and identify and apprehend criminals. This is clearly an important duty. The police have been given the power and authority to arrest citizens when it is believed they have violated the law. If the police did not enforce the law and arrest offenders, then the courts would have no one to adjudicate and corrections would have no one to “correct” (or provide treatment to, administer punishment to, maintain custody of, etc.). The entire criminal justice system would cease to operate. In this light, the police, as enforcers of the law, serve as the gate keepers of the criminal justice system, determining who comes into the system and who stays out.

gate keepers: The role the police play in determining who comes into the criminal justice system and who stays out.