American Police Roles Essay

American Policing Roles Two major roles associated with policing in American are the Crime-Fighting Role and Order-Maintenance Role. Each of these roles have played a major part in the way police work is viewed today. Society has viewed police work very differently over the years and even more so in the past two years. We will look at both of these roles and see if the question, “What is the police role?” (Dempsey, 2016) can be answered. The Crime-Fighting Role is how most people view the job of a police officer. According to author John Dempsey, “The police are crime fighters concerned with law enforcement” (Dempsey, 2016). This role is often emphasized in the news, by the media, and on television. Many police officers view the crime fighting aspects of their job to be the more glamorous and exciting stories to share with their friend and family, …show more content…
Order maintenance police work focuses on keeping the peace in communities and providing social service when necessary (Dempsey, 2016). Citizens see law enforcement as being there to help. By having the trust of community, law enforcement is able to maintain order. The Michael Brown shooting, the community in Ferguson, MO, did not trust law enforcement and had not for years. The community of Ferguson viewed law enforcement officer as crime fighters and rarely saw the order maintenance side of them. There was such a great disconnect between the police department and the citizens of Ferguson. Even after other law enforcement agencies and the National Guard ascended on Ferguson to help restore peace to Ferguson, the citizens would not allow that to happen. There is a like of trust within that community towards law enforcement and many more just like them all across the United States. The way citizens view law enforcement should have little baring on the goals and objectives officers are trying to