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Alaw enforcement agency (LEA) is anygovernment agency responsible forlaw enforcement within a specificjurisdiction through the employment and deployment oflaw enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement agency is thepolice, but various other forms exist as well, including agencies that focus on specificlegal violations or are organized and overseen by certainauthorities. They typically have variouspowers andlegal rights to allow them to perform their duties, such as thepower of arrest and theuse of force.
LEAs that have their power restricted in some way are said to operate within ajurisdiction. Jurisdictions are traditionally restricted to a geographic area and territory. An LEA might be able to apply its powers within astate (e.g., theNational Police for the entirety ofFrance), within anadministrative division (e.g., theOntario Provincial Police forOntario, Canada), within a division of an administrative division (e.g., theMiami-Dade Police Department forMiami-Dade County, Florida, United States), or across a collection of states typically within aninternational organization orpolitical union (e.g.,Europol for theEuropean Union).
Sometimes, the jurisdiction of an LEA is determined by the type of violation committed, the specific laws the agency enforces, the affected parties, or the severity of the offense. For example, in the United States, thePostal Inspection Service primarily investigates crimes affecting or misusing the services of theUnited States Postal Service, such asmail and wire fraud. If a Postal Inspection Service investigation uncoveredtobacco smuggling, theBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives would be involved, but theDrug Enforcement Administration would not, as even though they investigatedrug smuggling, their jurisdiction does not cover specifically tobacco smuggling. In other cases, an LEA's involvement is determined by whether their involvement is requested. TheAustralian Federal Police, for instance, has jurisdiction over all of Australia but usually takes on complex, serious matters referred to it by another agency; that other agency will undertake its own investigations of less serious or complex matters by consensus.[1][2]
LEA jurisdictions for a country and its divisions can be at more than one level. An LEA restricted to a jurisdiction is typically referred to aslocalpolice orterritorial police. The United States has five basic tiers of law enforcement jurisdiction:federal,state,county,municipality, andspecial jurisdiction (tribal,airport,transit,railroad, etc.). Only the municipal, county, and state levels are involved in direct policing (i.e., uniformed officers with marked cars and regular patrols). In some countries, national or federal police also participate in direct policing, although their focus and responsibilities may vary. In Brazil, there are five federal police forces with national jurisdiction—theFederal Police of Brazil, theFederal Highway Police, theFederal Railroad Police, the Federal Penal Police, and theNational Public Security Force. The Highway Police, Railroad Police, and Penal Police are restricted to specific area jurisdictions (theBrazilian Highway System,railways, andprisons respectively), the Federal Police performs various police duties across the country andinvestigates crimes, and the National Public Security Force is arapid reaction force deployed to assiststate authorities on request.
Some levels of jurisdictions may overlap, resulting in the differentiation of duties. As an example for the US tiers, theChicago Police Department has jurisdiction over Chicago but not necessarily the rest ofCook County. While theCook County Sheriff's Office has jurisdiction over Cook County, for the most part they patrolunincorporated areas and operateCook County Jail, leaving municipalities tomunicipal police departments. The rest ofIllinois, primarily itsstate highways, is under the jurisdiction of theIllinois State Police. Although they typically avoid each other's responsible areas, overlapping jurisdictions can assist each other if necessary, usually in the form of higher-tier agencies assisting lower-tier agencies.
Often, an LEA's jurisdiction will be geographically divided into operational areas for administrative and logistical efficiency reasons. An operational area is often called acommand,[3]division, oroffice.[4][5] Colloquially, they are known asbeats.
While the operational area of a LEA is sometimes referred to as its jurisdiction, the agency typically retains legal authority across all geographic areas in which it operates. However, by policy and mutual agreement, its operations are generally confined to its designated area and do not extend into other operational zones of the agency. For example, since 2019 thefrontline or territorial policing of theUnited Kingdom'sMetropolitan Police has been divided into 12 Basic Command Units, each consisting of two, three, or four of theLondon boroughs,[6] while theNew York City Police Department is divided into 77 precincts.[7]
Sometimes, one legal jurisdiction is covered by more than one LEA, which may arise due to administrative and logistical efficiency reasons, policy, or historical reasons. InEngland andWales, LEAs calledconstabularies have jurisdiction over their respective areas of legal coverage, but they do not normally operate out of their areas without formal liaison between them. The primary difference between separate agencies and operational areas within the one legal jurisdiction is the degree of flexibility to move resources between versus within agencies. When multiple LEAs cover the one legal jurisdiction, each agency still typically organizes itself into operations areas. In the United States, within a state's legal jurisdiction, county and city LEAs do not have full legal jurisdictional flexibility throughout the state, and this has led in part to mergers of adjacent police agencies.
Although international LEAs and multinational LEAs are both often termed "international" in official documents, differences exist between the two. Aninternational law enforcement agency has jurisdiction and/or operates in multiple countries and across state borders, such asInterpol. Amultinational law enforcement agency typically operates in only one country, or one division of a country, but is made up of personnel from several countries, such as theEuropean Union Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.[8][9] International LEAs are typically also multinational,[10] but multinational LEAs are typically not international. Rather than enforcing laws directly, LEAs that operate across a collection of countries tend to facilitate the sharing of information necessary for law enforcement between those countries.
When an LEA's jurisdiction is for the whole country, it is usually one of two broad types: federal or national.
When a country has afederalconstitution, the LEA responsible for the entire country is referred to as afederal law enforcement agency. The responsibilities of a federal LEA vary from country to country. Federal LEA responsibilities typically include the countering of fraud against the federation, immigration and border control regarding people and goods, the investigation of currency counterfeiting, the policing of airports and protection of designated national infrastructure, national security, and the protection of the country'shead of state and other designated very important persons.
Afederal police agency is a federal LEA that also has the typicalpolice responsibilities of social order andpublic safety, as well as federal law enforcement responsibilities. However, a federal police agency will not usually exercise its powers at a divisional level. Such exercising of powers typically involves specific arrangements between the federal and divisional governing bodies.
Examples of federal law enforcement agencies include the following:
A federated approach to a country's organization does not necessarily indicate how law enforcement agencies are organized within the country.[11] Some countries, such asAustria andBelgium, have a relatively unified approach to law enforcement but still have operationally separate units for federal law enforcement and divisional policing. The United States has a highly fractured approach to law enforcement agencies generally, and this is reflected inAmerican federal law enforcement agencies.
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In a federation, there will typically be separate LEAs with jurisdictions for each division within the federation. A federal LEA will have primary responsibility for laws that affect the federation as a whole and that have been enacted by the governing body of the federation.
Typically, federal LEAs have relatively narrow police responsibilities; the individual divisions within the federation usually establish their own police agencies to enforce laws within the division. However, in some countries federal agencies have jurisdiction in divisions of the federation. This typically happens when the division does not have its own independent status and is dependent on the federation. TheRoyal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is one such federal agency that also acts as the sole police agency for Canada's threeterritories: theNorthwest Territories,Nunavut, andYukon.[12]
Federal LEA members may also be given jurisdiction within a federation's division for laws enacted by the division's governing bodies either by the relevant division or by the federation's governing body. For example, the Australian Federal Police is a federal agency and has the legal power to enforce the laws enacted by any Australian state, but it will generally only enforce state law if there is a federal aspect to investigate.[13]
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In federalpolities, actions that violate laws in multiple geographical divisions within the federation or are deemed to be serious are escalated to a federal LEA. In other cases, specific crimes deemed to be serious are escalated; for example, in the United States, the FBI investigates allkidnapping cases regardless of whether they involve the crossing of state lines.[14] Some countries provide law enforcement on land and in buildings owned or controlled by thefederation by using a federal LEA; for example, theU.S. Department of Homeland Security[15] is responsible for some aspects of federal property law enforcement.
Anational law enforcement agency is an LEA in a country that does not have divisions capable of making their own laws. A national LEA has the combined responsibilities that federal LEAs and divisional LEAs would have in afederated country. National LEAs are usually divided into operational areas.
To help avoid confusion over jurisdictional responsibility, some federal LEAs, such as the USFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), explicitly state that they are not a national law enforcement agency.[16]
Anational police agency is a national LEA that also has the typicalpolice responsibilities of social order and public safety as well as national law enforcement responsibilities. Examples of countries with non-federal national police agencies areNew Zealand,Italy,Albania,Indonesia,France,Ireland,Japan,Netherlands,Malaysia, thePhilippines, andNicaragua.
State police,provincial police, orregional police are a type of subnationalterritorial police force found in nations organized asfederations, typically inNorth America,South Asia, andOceania, because each of their state police is mostly at the country level. These forces typically have jurisdiction over the relevant sub-national jurisdiction and may cooperate in law enforcement activities with municipal or national police where either exist.
LEAs can be responsible for the enforcement of laws affecting the behavior of people or the general community (e.g.,New York City Police Department), the behavior of commercial organizations and corporations (e.g.,Australian Securities and Investments Commission), or for the interests of the country as a whole (e.g.,United Kingdom'sHis Majesty's Revenue and Customs). In most countries, the formal termlaw enforcement agency includes agencies other than police agencies. The termlaw enforcement agency is often used in the United States to refer to police agencies; however, it also includes agencies withpeace officer status or agencies whichprosecute criminal acts. A county prosecutor or district attorney is considered to be the chief law enforcement officer of a county.
Many law enforcement agencies arepolice agencies that have a broad range of powers and responsibilities,some of which relate to social order and public safety rather than law enforcement. The understanding that police agencies encompass more than just law is recognized formally by scholars and academics as well as by general society.[17] A police agency's jurisdiction for social order and public safety will normally be the same as its jurisdiction for law enforcement.
Military organizations often have law enforcement units, generally referred to asmilitary police. This may refer to:
The exact usage and meaning of the termsmilitary police,provost,security forces, andgendarmerie vary from country to country.
Non-military law enforcement agencies are sometimes referred to ascivilian police in contexts where they need to be distinguished from military police. However, they may still possess a military-like structure and protocol.
Other responsibilities of LEAs typically involve assisting subjects in avoiding non-compliance with a law, in remaining safe and secure, and after a safety impacting event. These include:
Many LEAs have administrative and service responsibilities, often as their major responsibility, as well as their law enforcement responsibilities. This is typical of agencies such ascustoms ortaxation agencies, which provide services and facilities to allow subjects to comply with relevant laws as their primary responsibilities.
Private police are law enforcement bodies that are owned or controlled by non-governmental entities. Private police are often utilized in places where public law enforcement is seen as being under-provided. For example, theSan Francisco Patrol Special Police was formed to increase security inSan Francisco during theCalifornia gold rush and protected the homes and businesses of private clients until February 2024.
In Canada and the United States, many railroad companies have private railroad police, such as theBNSF Police Department,Canadian National Police Service,Canadian Pacific Kansas City Police Service, orUnion Pacific Police Department, among others. The Canadian National Police Service and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Police Service operate in both countries while the others operate only in the US.
Many LEAs are also involved in the monitoring or application ofregulations and codes of practice. See, for example,Australian Commercial Television Code of Practice,building code, andcode enforcement. Monitoring of the application of regulations and codes of practice is not normally considered law enforcement. However, the consistent non-compliance by a subject with regulations or codes of practice may result in the revocation of alicense for the subject to operate.
An LEA can be responsible for enforcingsecular law orreligious law such asSharia orHalakha. The significant majority of LEAs around the world are secular, and their governing bodies separate religious matters from the governance of their subjects. Religious law enforcement agencies, such asSaudi Arabia'sMutaween orIran'sGuidance Patrol, exist where full separation of government and religiousdoctrine has not occurred and are generally considered police agencies, typicallyreligious police, because their primary responsibility is for social order within their jurisdiction and the relevant social order being highly codified as laws.
An LEA will often have a specificinternal unit, such as the US FBI'sOffice of Professional Responsibility,[11] to ensure that the LEA is complying with relevant laws. In some countries and regions, specialized or separate LEAs, such as theNew South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption or theOntario Special Investigations Unit.[18][19][20], are established to ensure that other LEAs comply with laws and to investigate potential violations of laws by law enforcers.
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Typically, an LEA is established and constituted by the governing body it is supporting, and the personnel making up the LEA are from the governing body's subjects.
For reasons of either logistical efficiency or policy, some divisions within a country will not establish their own LEAs but will instead make arrangements with another LEA, typically from the same country, to provide law enforcement within the division. For example, theRoyal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is a federal agency and is contracted by most ofCanada'sprovinces and many municipalities to police them, even though law enforcement in Canada is constitutionally a divided responsibility. This arrangement has been achieved by formal agreement between those provinces and municipalities and the federal government, reducing the number of agencies policing the same geographical area.[21]
In circumstances where a country or division within a country cannot establish stable or effective LEAs, the country might invite other countries to provide personnel, experience, and organizational structure to constitute an LEA, such as theRegional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, which has a Participating Police Force[22] working in conjunction with theSolomon Islands Police Force. In circumstances where theUnited Nations is already providing an administrative support capability within the country, theUnited Nations may directly establish and constitute an LEA on behalf of the country, such as when theUnited Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor operated inTimor-Leste from 1999 to 2002;[23] related is theUnited Nations Police, which helps provide law enforcement duringUnited Nations peacekeeping missions.
To enable an LEA to prevent, detect, and investigate non-compliance with laws, the LEA is endowed with powers by its governing body that are not available to non-LEA subjects of a governing body. Typically, an LEA is empowered to varying degrees to:
Usually, these powers are only allowed when there isprobable cause that a subject is not complying with a law. For example, to undertake an intrusive search, an LEA typically must convince a judicial officer that an intrusive search is necessary to help detect or prove that a specified subject is non-compliant with a law. The judicial officer, if they agree, will then issue a legal instrument, typically called asearch warrant, to the LEA, which must be presented to the relevant subject if possible.
Because subjects who do not comply with laws will often seek to avoid detection by an LEA, LEAs are given lawful exemption to undertake secret activities that explicitly do not comply with a law other subjects must comply with. Secret activities by an LEA are often referred to ascovert operations.
To deceive a subject and carry out its activities, an LEA may be lawfully allowed to secretly:
Lawful deception and use of law exemption by an LEA is typically subject to very strong judicial or open civil overview. For example, the Australian Federal Police's controlled operations are subject to open civil review by its governing body, theParliament of Australia.[28][29]
Law enforcement agencies have other exemptions from laws that allow them to operate in a practical way. For example, many jurisdictions have laws that forbid animals from entering certain areas for health and safety reasons. LEAs are typically exempted from these laws to allow dogs to be used for search and rescue, drug search, explosives search, chase and arrest, and other uses.[30] Members of LEAs may be permitted to openly display firearms in places where this is typically prohibited to civilians, violate various traffic laws in the course of their duties, or detain persons against their will. These exemptions extend to international organizations such asInterpol, an international organization that is essentially stateless but must operate from some physical location. Interpol is protected from certain laws of the country where it is physically located.[31]
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