To begin with, in my opinion, work in police is the most dangerous work in our country. However, someone needs “to protect and to serve” and this is very important for everybody. Often, police officers all over the country have to conduct so-called police operations with the aim to catch persons, who are suspected in crimes. I presume that there is no need to say that such operations involve a great risk for police officers, but someone should do this job and protect U.S. citizens.
It should be noted that according to U.S. law: “police officers of a state or municipal government for the implementation of legislative regulation of civil interests, protect the safety, health, and all that concerns the citizens as well as for preventive activities in respect of criminal offenses, mass demonstrations and riots associated with them”, as stated in Notes on the Role of Police in Society. As a fact, it is very difficult to determine the police terms of reference, because it is constantly updated with the development level of society, technology, the emergence of new government agencies or reorganization thereof.
To conduct police operations are often used special purpose units (SWAT) – elite paramilitary fighting units of American police departments, designed to perform dangerous operations with the aim to address the specific character. In most American cities there are own tactical units, which are specially trained to react on different emergency situations. Also, it is essential to note that with the aim of effective conduction of police operation, police officers and SWAT teams are often equip with special weapons, including assault rifles, submachine guns, short-barreled shotguns, rifles, stun grenades and powerful sniper rifles. Also they are equipped with specialized equipment, including heavy body armor, guns hacking, armored vehicles, means night vision, motion detectors to locate hidden hostages and criminals indoors. Concerning the tactics of police operations, it can be said that usually, police officers detach the perimeter and wait for the SWAT team. As a rule, SWAT teams consists of ten fighters, each of them in turn, consists of two platoons (called elements) of five people. Each element includes the leader (commander), two attackers, reconnaissance and fighter, who covers the rear. This tactics is often used for rescue hostages, conduct counterterrorism operations and arrest dangerous criminals, as described in The Leadership Role of the First-Line Supervisor in Police Operations.
It is important to note that after terrorists’ attacks on September 11, 2001 powers of intelligence agencies and police were greatly expanded. These powers have touched listening to flare up telephone and e-mails of terrorism suspects on the territory of the U.S., possible retention of suspects without charge for up to 48 hours and others. In other words, with the aim to protect us, police, FBI, CIA and other special forces significantly increased their powers. It can be said that nowadays, national security – is the priority over the democratic freedoms of U.S. citizens, as stated in Prevention: Police Role.
Currently, there is a tendency to the emergence of new types of cyber crimes, conducted through the Internet. Of course, appear new police departments, which specialization is to react on such types of crimes. In my opinion, the future of the police will heavily depend on the U.S. government policy. I strongly believe that our police will promptly respond to all emerging threats.
Works cited
Michael Waters. 2007. The Leadership Role of the First-Line Supervisor in Police Operations. 18 May 2011. <http://www.clearwaterpolice.org/articles/waters.asp>
Rohini Dasgupta. 2010. Notes on the Role of Police in Society. 18 May 2011. <http://www.preservearticles.com/201104265952/notes-on-the-role-of-police-in-society.html>
Edward Maguire. 2009. Prevention: Police Role. 18 May 2011. <http://law.jrank.org/pages/1759/Prevention-Police-Role.html>