Comparing US & UK Policing Systems

This assignment requires students to compare and contrast policing systems in the United States and the United Kingdom. The analysis should delve into historical origins, legal frameworks, organizational structures, community relations, and key differences in approach. Students are expected to utilize provided resources to support their arguments and demonstrate a clear understanding of the complexities involved in both systems.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Policing in England and Wales........................................................................................................4
Policing in US..................................................................................................................................6
Comparing.......................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
Policing is defined as such a set of activities which are deemed as provision of security
through the use of surveillance and the threat of sanctioning (Rawlings, 2012). Under policing,
the activities are organized which help in organizing order maintenance, in keeping peace,
enforcement of rule or law, prevention and investigation of crime, and the other types of
associated information brokering and investigation which covers the conscious exercise of
coercive power (Newburn & Reiner, 2012). Policing helps the police in tackling criminality
which becomes more effective and efficient by allowing for collaboration, providing higher
flexibility in workforce and also in freeing up the police in what they do best, which is to protect
the feeble and to fight crime (UK Government, 2017).
The policing work, as the name suggests, is carried on through the police, where they
catch the criminals, prevent crime from taking place and maintain public order, along with
carrying on the daily activities like patrolling, traffic duties, and the like. There is no single
police, who carries on this work; each aspect of policing is in hands of certain groups of police,
which are given different names. These names based on the classification of the police are done
based on the nation in which the police operate (Newburn, 2012). For instance, in England and
Wales the classifications include British Transport Police, PCSO, Riot Police, and the like;
whilst in US, these include FBI police, Federal Air Marshal Services, Texas Ranger Division,
and the like. This is just a basic example of the variance in the policing of two nations. This
discussion would attempt to shed some light on the policing in England and Wales, and in US,
and would draw comparisons and variances between the two nations.

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Policing in England and Wales
The mission statements of the police in England and Wales make a frequent reference to
the wordings of Richard Mayne given back in 1829 where the key goals of efficient police is
defined as one which relates to preventing crime, detection of it, and punishing the offenders
where crime is committed. And the efforts of the police are directed towards ending all these. It
relates to protection of property and life, preserving public tranquillity, end of crime for proving
that the efforts of police have succeeded and the goals set by police for whom they have been
appointed, have been achieved. The attainment of these goals depends on cooperation from the
public and their approval. Amongst the key principles of the modern day policing in England and
Wales is that the police seeks to work as a part of and with the community (Natale, 2010).
The police force in England and Wales are managed in a strategic manner by Police
Authority or Board, through which it is ensured that for policing there, is local accountability.
There is a model known as the tripartite system of police accountability where the
responsibilities have been distributed between the chief constable of force, the Home Office, and
the local police authority or Police, and the Crime Panel (Barton, 2014). The Home Office
determines the main national policing goals; the local police authority is responsible for the
maintenance of efficient and effective force; and the chief constable is responsible for control
and direction of force (Natale, 2010).
In England and Wales, there are forty three police forces and there is a variance in the
structures of these forces. In general, each force has a force headquarters, which includes a
commissioner’s office or chief constable, along with central services and the units, combined
with a force-wide remit. The majority of police forces cover large area and include several

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thousand support staff and constables. The majority of work of headquarters covers specialist
functions. Each force also has two or more Basic Command Units. These are known as boroughs
in Metropolitan Police area and divisions or sectors in other areas. The smaller areas cover
districts or towns which are commanded by superintendent with hundreds of officers and
supporting staff. The majority of forces have around 3 to 7 basic command units based on the
area covered and size of force. The squads or the specialist units cover central control room for
emergency calls; criminal investigation department covering fraud squad, dog squad, crime
recordings and statistics, and fingerprints and photographic records, amongst the other things;
road traffic policing; operational support section which covers firearms, dogs, helicopters, and
the like; support services and administration, and administrative services (Clowes, Dhesi,
McCann & Worth, 2017).
The organizations which are responsible for policing in England and Wales include the
HMIC, i.e., Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, the British
Transport Police, the College of Policing, the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Police
Federation of England and Wales, and the Independent Police Complaints Commission, amongst
the others (Caless, 2011). The police in England and Wales have been given various powers, in
order to undertake the responsibilities imposed on them. These powers are largely defined by the
statutory law and the key provisions of it are covered under the Police Act, 1996 and the Police
and Criminal Evidence Act, 1984. The police powers, per law is given to the constables, which
includes both full time and the volunteer police officers, along with certain power being granted
to Traffic Wardens and Police Community Support Officers (Newburn, 2012).

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The main powers include the power of detention, search without warrant, arrest without
warrant, powers of entry and the other ones like removing disguises and road checks (Crawford,
2008). The power of police has been a source of controversy in England and Wales, particularly
its stop and search powers. The police force has the option of stopping any person, where they
doubt the person to be involved in or to get involved in criminal activities, to search such person.
Often the police force is blamed for misusing this power, particularly in context of the police
officers being indulged in racism. This has led to the questions being raised on whether these
powers given to the police force result in abuse of power by the police. However, steps have
been taken in this regard to bring down such instances and to make use of powers, particularly
the stop and search ones, in a manner which are deemed as justified, instead of being an abuse of
power (Bradford, 2017).
Policing in US
The law enforcement in US is amongst the three key components of US’s criminal justice
system, in addition to corrections and courts. Even though each of these components works in a
semi-independent manner, the three of them form a chain in a collective manner which leads
from the investigation of suspected criminal activity to the criminal punishment’s administration.
The governmental police agencies primarily carry out the law enforcement work. The purpose of
it is to investigate upon the suspected criminal activity, referring the investigation results to
courts and the detention of suspected criminal in temporary manner pending judicial action.
These agencies are varied at the different levels of government and also have been charged with

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different responsibilities for deterring the criminal activities and also preventing the successful
commission of crimes which are in progress (Conser, Russell, Gingerich & Paynich, 2005).
The law enforcement agencies of US are involved in responding to the emergencies at the
very first instance, along with being the first responders to the safety of public, protecting
infrastructure and public facilities, maintaining public order, protecting public officials, and
operating the correctional facilities. There are different types of police in US, which includes the
federal, state, municipal, and the country ones which include county police and the Sherriff’s’
offices. Included in the Federal level are the police which have been granted full federal
authority based on the United States Code and the federal law enforcement agencies, which have
the authority of enforcing laws at federal level. The responsibility at federal level, in matter of
law enforcement duties, lies with the Department of Justice. Included in this department are the
FBI, DEA, ATF, BOP, United States Marshal Services, and the others. The state ones are the
state-wide government agencies where the law enforcement duties are provided. The county
police cover parishes, boroughs and they enforce the county law (Gaines & Kappeler, 2011).
The organizations include United States Secret Service, Bureau of Justice Statistics, and
the ones mentioned above. Three key functions have been identified by scholars and textbooks
for the police agency in the nation. The first one is order maintenance where the police have the
responsibility of keeping peace. This is done in addition to prevention of such behaviour which
disturb the others. The next one relates to law enforcement where the powers given to the police
for order maintenance have to be used in proper manner, and in a manner where the law is not
breached and the ones breaching the laws are identified and apprehended; the most common ones
in this regard in burglary, robbery or murder. The last one includes services, which include

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guiding the disoriented, acting as educators, providing tourist information and rendering first aid.
The majority of calls for assistance of police do not include its core activities of crime, but these
service features of helping others (Cole & Smith, 2004).
Often the division between the state and the federal law can be confusing. An example of
this confusion can be cited in murder being classified as a state crime, whilst the less serious
natured crimes like taking a woman across the boundary of state for purposes which are deemed
as immoral, are covered in federal crimes. The police of each city are concerned with the local
crimes and the crimes which fall out of their jurisdiction are left for others, which at times, can
hinder the investigation process. The politeness, efficiency and honesty of the police officers is
also varied across the states and cities; and US police force is famous for its widespread
corruption, especially in the key cities like New York in which the officers are even involved in
activities like selling drugs which have been seized from the pushers. Some have even cited of
being asked to pay a $20 bill when they possessed relevant documents and driving license (Just
Landed, 2017).
Comparing
The previous parts highlighted a brief of the policing done in England and Wales, and in
US. This part would draw a comparison between the two in such a manner where the similarities
between the two systems, and more importantly, the variances between the two systems would
be elucidated.
The police force in US is formed of a number of police forces which are known as the
police departments and of enforcement agencies, along with the FBI. The police department is

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not a support service and is instead a police force. Instead of departments, there are bureaus in
each of the police department. The state is not a governmental entity and instead is based on
commonwealth or a region. Each state has a varied range of counties, for instance Delaware has
three and Texas has 254. Each county has their own Police Department which is public and there
are other private police law enforcement agencies. The local politics, as well as national politics
affects the policing in US. US have a socio-political status where a federal constitution was
adopted back in 1778. Since that time, it has been modified twenty seven times and the
independent states have been since amalgamated in a single republic to form USA (Smith &
Greenblatt, 2017).
US, was a part of England and got its independence on July 04th, 1776 after which the
constitution was adopted. Even though there was a separation from English rule, the roots of
English legal system continue to influence the nation. The policing of US during the seventeenth
and the eighteenth century included England ruling the colonial America by its Governor, who in
order to get the law enforced through a levy system, appointed County Sheriffs. The sheriffs
used to be paid a sum based on the duties undertaken by them and as per the taxes which they
collected. At that time, high priority was not given to the law enforcement and the sheriffs used
to be paid at a higher rate for collecting tax, in comparison to money paid for apprehending the
criminals. The constables and the officers of night watch had been given different hobs like
dealing with health hazards, maintaining street lamps, responding to offending, fire calls and
more activities in the segment of public health violation in comparison to prevention of crime
(Dunham & Alpert, 2015).

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The English influence on policing of US became visible in late 1700s when there was a
rapid change in England, where it grew global trade routes, which increased the commercial and
goods markets. This was followed by industrial revolution which led to increase in migration in
towns and cities making them populated, and bringing forth a political revolution. Come 1929,
England had recognized the need of taking action with the arrival of Metropolitan Police Act
1829 creating full time regulated police service. In 1790, these changes were mirrored by
America, particularly due to the rise in population of New York by 1830 from 33,000 to 150,000.
The crime rose rapidly from this time to 1850s particularly including the incidents like the Broad
Street Riots, and St. Louis rioters. There was no real system of stemming the rising crime. The
English Metropolitan preventative policing style was adopted by the large industrial cities of
America (Dougherty, 2015).
Even though there was a lot of influence of policing of US from England and Wales,
there is quite a difference between the two, which is majorly due to the role of politics played in
this regard. The English Policing Model maintains a centralized position where there is no role of
politics, and also enforces the democratic laws. The policing model of England was parochial in
its construction; though, the national unity and identity in its enforcement standards were met. In
this model, the formal control remained with Commissioner, who held the independent authority.
The policing model of America continued to be ultra parochial and was decentralised. The
policing model of the nation essentially became an extension of political persuasions instead of
being reflective of the directions given by the local governments. The political leaders selected
the senior officers and they had no actual or formal control. This led to the policing being left to
the discretion of the officers, which in turn resulted in a different law enforcement standards

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being created amongst the neighbourhoods. The officers were given no training, which resulted
in them being forced to survive based on their own instincts. Though, there were a similar
adoption of this system by the small towns and the counties. The policing was majorly a utility
by product provision owing to the main duties of the police being health services, sanitation and
the fire services. The activities and the effectiveness of the police were varied based on the
influence of the local governments and the political parties on the end results. Due to these
reasons, the policing of US continued to be a corrupt one (King, 2004).
There has been a significant decrease in the number of police officers in England and
Wales in the last decade, which has resulted in this issue becoming a political one. In 2016, the
officers in police force stood at 124,066 which was decline from 143,769, the figure of seven
years back. There is one police officer for 448 people in the nation; and as per the public and the
media, this is not enough, particularly due to the rise in the crime rate in the last decade (Langan,
1999; The Infographics Show, 2017). As a result of this, there has been a rise in homicides and
violent crimes in the nation. In comparison to England and Wales, the crime rates in US are quite
higher and with the departments of police becoming more of military units, the role of police
played in the society becomes controversial. The police agencies in the nation stand around
eighteen thousand, which is the figure for all the branches of police. This number, as per the
National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, stands at 900,000. Based on this number,
there is one cop for 359 people in the nation (The Infographics Show, 2017).
A key differentiating point between US and England and Wales policing is that the police
of US carries guns, as is done by the locals of the nation, which is around 36%. The officers who
died in the line of duty for US in 2016 stood at 135 where half of these died due to being shot

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fatally. In case of England and Wales, since 2020, 11 officers died in the line of duty; though, a
number of officers have been assaulted in the nation, where as many as 23,000 assaults took
place against the officers of England and Wales. As per the Police Federation of England and
Wales, this figure was not even close to the real number for 2017. They stated that there were 2.4
million assaults in 2016, which roughly translates in an assault taking place every 13 seconds. In
US, for 2016, police killed 1,093 people; whilst in England and Wales, this figure was just 5.
This is due to the difference in approach of handling people and the US giving a higher freedom
to the police officers, in comparison to the ones in England and Wales. The total number of
people who were killed and shot in England and Wales was just 6 since 1990, which is due to the
police in England and Wales not carrying guns (The Infographics Show, 2017). This is the
reason why the officers are assaulted in England and Wales more in comparison to ones in US,
and the police of US shooting and killing more people in comparison to ones in England and
Wales. US police is thus more violent (Lartey, 2015).
Conclusion
Thus, in the preceding parts, the policing carried on in England and Wales was discussed,
in addition to that in US. A comparison of the two nations showed the stems of policing policies
of England and Wales in US; but with the changes which took place in US, politics entered into
the police forces, whilst the policing in England and Wales continued to base on statutory laws
instead of politics.

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References
Barton, H. (2014). Governance and Accountability of the UK Police: The Role of Police
Authorities. Retrieved from: http://www4.ntu.ac.uk/nbs/document_uploads/98890.pdf
Bradford, B. (2017). Stop and Search and Police Legitimacy (Vol. 42). London: Taylor &
Francis.
Caless, B. (2011). Policing at the top: The roles, values and attitudes of chief police officers.
Bristol: Policy Press.
Clowes, N., Dhesi, H., McCann, F., & Worth, R. (2017). Law Enforcement Reference Manual.
Retrieved from:
http://library.college.police.uk/docs/homeoffice/euro_law_ref_manual.pdf
Cole, G.F., & Smith, C.E. (2004). The American System of Criminal Justice (10th ed.). Boston,
Massachusetts: Thomson Learning.
Conser, J. A., Russell, G. D., Gingerich, T. E., & Paynich, R. (2005). Law enforcement in the
United States. Burlington, Massachusetts: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Crawford, A. (2008). Plural policing in the UK: policing beyond the police. Handbook of
policing, 2.
Dougherty, E. (2015). Comparative Policing: America and the United Kingdom: An Exploratory
Historical Analysis with an Eye on the Present. Retrieved from:
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1496&context=honorsprojects

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Dunham, R. G., & Alpert, G. P. (2015). Critical issues in policing: Contemporary readings.
Illinois: Waveland Press.
Gaines, L. K., & Kappeler, V. E. (2011). Policing in America. Oxon: Routledge.
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States/Articles/Culture/The-police
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United States (No. 19). Edwin Mellen Press.
Langan, P.A. (1999). Crime & Justice in the United States & in England & Wales 1981-86.
Washington DC: DIANE Publishing.
Lartey, J. (2015). By the numbers: US police kill more in days than other countries do in years.
Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/09/the-counted-police-
killings-us-vs-other-countries
Natale, L. (2010). The Police in England and Wales. Retrieved from:
http://www.civitas.org.uk/content/files/factsheet-police.pdf
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Rawlings, P. (2012). Policing: A short history. Oxon: Routledge.

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Smith, K. B., & Greenblatt, A. (2017). Governing states and localities (6th ed.). California: CQ
Press.
The Infographics Show. (2017). American Cops vs British Cops (Bobbies). Retrieved from:
https://www.theinfographicsshow.com/home-1/american-cops-vs-british-cops-bobbies
UK Government. (2017). Policing. Retrieved from:
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