Law Enforcement

Being in law enforcement requires a high level of training and education. There are many different types of law enforcement branches. Law enforcement officers use special tactics, weapons, cars, and reasoning to apprehend a suspect or complete the job assigned. Some of the many different types and branches of law enforcement are; Police Department’s which have jurisdiction in a particular city. The Sheriffs Department’s jurisdiction is limited to an entire county. Highway Patrolmen or State Troopers are designated to keep the road safe and enforce traffic laws. Then there are Federal and State departments assigned to specific tasks. Such as the DEA, which means Drug Enforcement Agency, handles strictly the prevention of misuse of drugs. The FBI, which stands for Federal Bureau of Investigation, they handle all levels of crime in all parts of the country. Some large cities have their own S.W.A.T. team, which means special weapons and tactics, they handle high risk, high stress situations. When America became free from Britain, they began to use British governmental institutions. British law can be traced back to as far as 1066 before the Norman Conquest of England. Later on in history after things in America began to get settled, people were still being put in stocks as punishment. Stocks were used primarily for physical punishment and humiliated who was put in them. Colonies soon began to form into towns and the Justice of Peace system simply wasn’t enough. An organized and paid police force was required to help keep the peace. In 1635, the first official Night Watch was formed in Boston. The night watch was nothing like the police forces that there are today, the officers were not armed. It was meant to work only if the occu...

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...spects, high-risk search warrants, high-risk arrests, counter sniper operations, VIP protection, hostage taking situations, and times where there is a high likelihood of armed resistance. SWAT teams use a large variety of lethal and non-lethal weapons. They use Berretta or Sig-Sauer pistols for close-range, Remington or Benelli Shotguns are used for close-range high stress. For medium range and high rate of fire is needed, they usually use the common M-4 assault rifle, made in many different brands. Submachine guns are used also and are usually the H&K mp5 or the UMP-45. For long-range shots SWAT teams usually use the Remington 700 Bolt action sniper rifle. SWAT teams try to avoid using lethal force therefor they are highly trained in the use of Tasers, OC pepper spray, pepper ball guns, and stinger and flash grenades, to take down a suspect without taking a life.