Law Enforcement: Comparative Analysis of Police Departments in Oregon

This report provides a comparative analysis of law enforcement in the United States, focusing on the roles and responsibilities of state police, county sheriff's offices, and municipal police departments. It begins by outlining the hierarchical structures and duties of each type of law enforcement agency, including their involvement in criminal justice, patrol, investigation, and maintaining order. The report then delves into a case study of the Multnomah County Police Department in Oregon, examining its size, demographics, technological advancements, and the services it provides. The analysis assesses the adequacy of law enforcement provisions in the area, highlighting both the strengths of the department, such as effective patrolling and community policing, and areas for improvement, such as the underrepresentation of minorities within the police force. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of addressing diversity issues to better serve the community, referencing relevant data and studies to support its findings.

Structures
The Law enforcement at the State level consists of the State Police, county sheriff and Municipal
police departments. State Police includes Regional commanders, highway patrol and state
investigative agencies. The Sheriff’s office includes designated agencies for court related,
criminal justice, patrol and investigation matters, effectively supervised by the offices of sheriff’s
police, deputy sheriff and Sheriff’s deputy in the order of seniority. (L. Edward Wells, 2005) The
Municipal Police enforces majority of the law enforcement activities consisting of metropolitan
departments having jurisdiction over different communities and municipalities, assisted by the
sworn police officers, sergeants etc.
Duties
The state police are in-charge of enforcing the state laws apart from routine patrol and traffic
regulations. Other duties include investigating major crimes, organized criminal activities as well
as running various units for drug trafficking, juvenile law enforcement, crime laboratories etc.
The duties of the office of the Sheriff is threefold-
 Law enforcement to the county
 Maintaining the county jail and receiving of prisoners in various stages of criminal justice
process
 Providing personnel to serve court bailiffs, transport defendants and prisoners and to act
in civil matters such as delivering subpoena and enforcing court ordered lien, eviction
notice etc (Samuel Walker, 2013)
The Municipal Police on the other hand is responsible for maintaining proper law and order at
grass root level and dealing with crimes and disturbances in the jurisdiction.
Differences in the roles relating to Law enforcement
Law enforcement by Municipal Police typically helps in resolving various jurisdictional issues.
The Sheriff’s office on the other hand exists in the Metropolitan areas whereas; the State Police
is operated mainly through the state wide government agencies that are assign duties to them.
(hierarchystructure, 2013)
Study of Multomah County and its police Department
Multnomah County of Oregon State has a total population of 766,135. About 83.6% at White and
the rest of the population includes Asian, African American, and Native Americans etc. The
principal industries are manufacturing, tourism, transportation, retail trade (Matt Hastie, AICP,
Andrew Parish, Zechariah Heck, 2014) etc.
Police department -size, demographics of officers, technology
A total of 940 officers serve the Oregon State Police Department. This constitutes 87% of White
and 13% of Minority officers. (Minorities in Oregon police departments, 2014, 2016)
The Police have adopted advanced technology towards better administration. Every Police
Bureau member is given an email address. Features such as Central Precinct Street Crimes Unit
that conducts live enforcement missions, Rapid Response Team to respond to crowd control are
unique in the state.
Services or functions
The majority of the law enforcement activity is conducted by Municipal Police. The police conduct

a wide range of functions including law enforcement, patrolling-land and river, community
policing and civic emergency co-ordination. The County Sheriff operates investigations
throughout the county and patrols unincorporated areas of the county. Co-ordination between the
corporations, human trafficking, and homicide investigation are some of the functions. (MCSO,
2015)
Whether Law enforcement organization is adequate for the area
There are adequate law enforcement provisions in the area covering Multnomah County.
Effective methods of patrolling, investigation and proactive community policing, agile workforce,
makes it for a model Police organization. On the flip side, here the Police department there is an
abysmally low minority representation in the police department in the county. (Brosseau, 2016).
With growing diversity that the state of Oregon has witnessed in the past couple of years, this is
an issue that has to be addressed effectively.
References
Brosseau, C. (2016, April 15). Oregon police far less diverse than communities they serve, data show.
Retrieved November 5, 2016, from Oregon live.
hierarchystructure. (2013). US Police Hierarchy. Retrieved November 05, 2016, from
hierarchystructure.com: http://www.hierarchystructure.com/us-police-hierarchy/
L. Edward Wells, D. N. (2005, August). Policing in the United States: Developing a. Retrieved
November 5, 2016, from U.S. Department of Justice.
Matt Hastie, AICP, Andrew Parish, Zechariah Heck. (2014, October 1). Multnomaha County.
Retrieved November 5, 2016, from Multco: https://multco.us/file/36649/download
MCSO. (2015). mcso-profiles. Retrieved November 5, 2016, from MCSO:
http://www.mcso.us/profiles/#fact
Minorities in Oregon police departments, 2014. (2016). Retrieved November 5, 2016, from Oregon
live: rojects.oregonlive.com/police/minority.php
Nice, M. (2004). Changes in the Jail Population. Oregon.
Samuel Walker, U. o. (2013). The Police in America: An Introduction. Nebraska: McGraw-Hill Higher
Education.