![]() Police work has developed considerably from what it was centuries ago. There is a remarkable historical, geographic, and organizational diversity in the activities of people who are, or have been, defined as police. Countries in Africa, Asia, and South America are covered to a lesser extent, mainly because relatively little reliable information on their policing systems is available. This article focuses on the development of public police organizations and of their policing strategies in Anglo-Saxon countries and the countries of continental Europe, particularly France, which developed the original model of centralized policing. Policing has therefore become a complex undertaking that straddles the traditional institutional and jurisdictional distinctions between public and private, criminal and political. Furthermore, security and intelligence agencies that generally operate undercover have played an increasingly important role in combating terrorism, especially since the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001. However, in many Anglo-Saxon countries-such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States-there are at least twice as many private security agents as public police officers. They are the most visible representatives of the civil authority of government, and they provide the model typically associated with police organizations. The best known of these bodies are the public constabulary forces that patrol public spaces, often in marked cars, and whose members wear a uniform. Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department: patrollingįollowing that definition, policing thus may be performed by several different professional organizations: public police forces, private security agencies, the military, and government agencies with various surveillance and investigative powers. Hence, the actual use of coercion or the threat of using it allows police to put a quick, nonnegotiated, and conclusive end to problematic situations (e.g., keeping people away from the scene of a fire for their own protection and to allow firemen to do their job). Such situations are characterized by two features: their potential for harm and the need to solve them urgently before they develop that potential. There is now a consensus among researchers, based on a definition first proposed by American sociologist Egon Bittner, that the common feature among all the different agencies engaged in policing is the legal competence to enforce coercive, nonnegotiable measures to resolve problematic situations. Second, the variety of situations in which police are asked to intervene is much greater than law enforcement and order maintenance. First, it defines police by their ends rather than by the specific means that they use to achieve their goals. However, police scholars have criticized this popular understanding of the word police-that it refers to members of a public organization having the legal competence to maintain order and enforce the law-for two reasons. SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!įrench National Police: arresting suspect.Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.Britannica Beyond We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of learning.100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.COVID-19 Portal While this global health crisis continues to evolve, it can be useful to look to past pandemics to better understand how to respond today.Student Portal Britannica is the ultimate student resource for key school subjects like history, government, literature, and more.This Time in History In these videos, find out what happened this month (or any month!) in history.#WTFact Videos In #WTFact Britannica shares some of the most bizarre facts we can find.Demystified Videos In Demystified, Britannica has all the answers to your burning questions. ![]() Britannica Explains In these videos, Britannica explains a variety of topics and answers frequently asked questions.Britannica Classics Check out these retro videos from Encyclopedia Britannica’s archives.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |