Читать книгу Police in America - Steven G. Brandl - Страница 134

Another way of saying the police enforce the law is by saying the police implement the law. Without the police implementing the law, laws are just words on paper. Not all laws are implemented at equal levels; some are enforced all the time while others are seldom if ever enforced. Every state and city has laws or other ordinances that are so seldom enforced that they are not even viewed as serious rules. For example, in Kennesaw, Georgia, it is required that every head of household own at least one firearm. In California, it is against the law to consume a frog that has died in a frog-jumping contest. In Aspen, Colorado, it is illegal to start or participate in a snowball fight.² In East Lansing, Michigan (home of Michigan State University), it is illegal to sing, hum, or play the University of Michigan (the cross-state rival) fight song. These laws (ordinances) exist with little chance that the police will actually enforce them. A more serious example is how many state legislatures have attempted to reduce the frequency of driving under the influence (DUI) by creating laws with severe sanctions. However, research has shown that the enforcement of these laws by police officers is not automatic; it depends on the priority the police chief gives to DUI enforcement, incentives to enforce the law, officer-peer influence, the availability of time, and other factors.³

It is also important to note that the police do not pay equal attention to all laws and all crime. Local police in particular are more oriented toward the enforcement of predatory crimes, such as murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, and theft, than other sorts of serious crime, such as insider trading, money laundering, investment fraud, insurance fraud, and so on. The latter are more of a priority for federal agencies and insurance companies.