Law Enforcement
By far the single most important area of criminal justice is law enforcement. This includes all local, state, and federal entities enforcing laws and protecting citizens. Without law enforcement there would be no need for courts. There would be no need for corrections. Law enforcement is the driving force behind criminal justice. One single misstep from a member of law enforcement and an entire case can be thrown out. This not only makes them the most important to the community but to the entire criminal justice system.
Depending on where you are and who you talk to police have different missions in different communities. You may go to a big city and hear that all the police do is enforce the law and nothing more. If you go to the suburbs of that same city you may find that the police mission is based more on crime prevention. Different policing stratigies will fall under different types of policing. These include, Community policing, legalistic style Policing, and service style policing.
Community policing as described by the beuru of justice assistance is, in essence, a collaboration between the police and the community that identifies and solves community problems. This type of policing I believe is more prevalent in smaller towns or in the suburbs. Although larger communities such and Chicago and Newark paratice community policing, I believe that it is not as easy to use community policing in those areas because of the help needed from the community for this process to work In community policing, the community and police force take an equal responsibility in enforcing and keeping naborhoods safe.
Police forces using the legalistic style policing are known for enforcing the law to a T. In many communities going 5 mph over the speed limit is the norm, while in areas policed by legalistic style you will be pulled over and ticketed for going 1 mph over the speed limit. Communities with legalistic style policing will usually not...