US Police Jurisdiction

[Bugi007]

By only enforcing misdemeanors surely you don't mean they don't investigate murders etc? Wouldn't that stretch the more federal of forces and state police thin? I think in rural areas a wide jurisdiction helps. I agree with you that some LEAs are a bit unorganised.

Exactly. Municipal police forces are authorized to investigate illegal actions that are only punishable by the fine or seizing the property. If murder happens, Police of the Czech Republic is called and they handle the investigation. Of course, if there is a suspect on scene, municipal cops arrest him. Often happens that MPs are first on scene and they follow 'the hot trail' so they chase the suspect and arrest him. However, have to handle him to the State police because they do the prosecution. On the other hand, in some Czech cities local/municipal PDs are the primary law enforcement authorities. Are authorized to carry a gun, taser and all the other stuff we use. 

 

Yes, I know that NYPD is considered as a local PD. But we all know it's not truth and they are metropolitan. They are professionals and I deal with a huuge crime comparing to other small town PDs (that have military equipment!). I hate the way how police depts are being militarized. I didn't join the police to ride a tank. In my opinion, both Canada and the USA are using too much repressive and little prevention.    

 

 

And to reply to Bugi, I don't know where you got that local police has more power than county or state police. Locals have the least amount of power, then county, state, and federal, in that order.

I meant it like locals deal with all kind of crime. No matter what, if it is illegal, you get arrested. However, federal LE agencies are focused on the crimes they are intended to investigate. The DEA cannot investigate frauds but locals can and will arrest you for that. Catch my drift now? Another good example is FBI.. 

[ThatOneIowan]

Okay before I go on I'll admit to not reading all of this... I did a ride along program with my local department a while ago and can tell you how my county works:

 

As for my county, it's a rural county - we have 4 city (well, town) police departments. The City of Boone usually has 4 on duty officers, the City of Ogden has one officer on duty from 8:00a-midnight and from midnight to 8am, one officer is on call. Madrid has one police officer on duty, but I can't remember whether they ever go to just 'on call'. 

 

That being said, all officers in the State of Iowa who are on duty can operate anywhere in the state - a city officer can stop another car in a completely different county for a serious traffic violation if they are on duty (usually when leaving a conference). I'm not sure of their off duty powers. 

 

It also varies on policy - Ogden PD typically helps out the SO when there's nothing going on but SO is on a call about 5 miles or so out of town, and both the officer and the deputy have the same powers as arresting, citations, searches, reports go. Boone PD *rarely* ever leaves the city limits. There'd have to be a serious call before they would leave the city limits. Bar fight in Ogden? It's just the Ogden officer and the two deputies on duty (yes, typically there are only two deputies on unless overlap gives them three). Good luck! Madrid PD usually just sits at the PD until there's a call and are more reactive than proactive. 

 

State Patrol works pretty much the same here as any other state, however, I rarely ever see them - they typically stay in more populated areas as traffic violations happen little here. 

 

Feel free to PM me/email me if you have any questions pertaining to my county!

[MikeyPI]

Generally speaking a police officer's official duties are limited to within their jurisdictional areas of responsibility. That being said, they DO (as does any other civilian) have the right to detain an individual whom has committed a crime outside of their jurisdiction pending the arrival of appropriate law enforcement authorities within the area outside of their jurisdiction.  Detainment of a subject is not the same as arresting the subject, likewise they cannot and will not for example ticket individuals outside of their jurisdiction.

 

The exceptions are for example in the event of a pursuit of a suspect that crosses jurisdictional borders, they will contact the authority over that jurisdiction and continue pursuit at their discretion, if the subject is taken into custody prior to the authority of that jurisdiction arriving on scene, they generally will wait and hold them until they may arrive.  Usually the subject of the pursuit is returned to the jurisdiction in which they originally offended.  Sometimes they are processed within the area they were caught, then transferred at a later date. Alternatively, some areas DO have mutual-assistance programs where authorities from outside of their jurisdiction are permitted to enforce the law within due to lacking resources locally.

 

Generally this is a list of how most systems work within the structure of police forces accountability (note I am not listing every type of police nor will I be).

Federal-interstate related issues (IE someone crosses state or country lines to commit a crime or violates federal statutes) The FBI for ex deals with the interstate related issues, if you were to rob a bank, they are FDIC insured, it falls under the fed. If you were to commit a crime in say California, and flee to Nevada, where you commit another crime, the FBI can take jurisdiction over your pursuit.

State-State Police/State Troopers/etc are generally inter-county/highway patrols that are assigned mostly to support unincorporated rural communities along with the highways and other major roads within the state, sometimes they are also used to augment municipalities forces that are lacking, but that is far more rare than supporting rural communities with lacking forces. Generally Traffic cops and Traffic accident cops.

County-In most of the country County Police make up the bulk of the police enforcement duties, they deal with most of the normal calls that you expect police to handle.

Incorporated City Police-Like the county they handle the bulk of normal duties, but are generally for cities that are incorporated like Washington D.C., NYC, LA, etc.. Mostly densely populated incorporated cities end up with police depts of their own to put more forces in the area as opposed to a county.

Police vs. Sheriff... This one is more varying depending on the area of the US you are talking about, in some places sheriffs are basically court police that handle serving warrants/summons, transport of detainees/prisoners, and to secure the court buildings. While in other areas the sheriff's depts are actually full blown law enforcement officers that will respond to calls and handle most day-to-day police duties.

 

As a rule an incorporated city police officer won't be doing his duties outside of his city within another county or city's jurisdiction, especially while off-duty.  IF in the course of his duties he should be required to cross a jurisdictional line pursuing a suspect, they generally will do so and notify the authority over the area of responsibility. Police officers, just like civilians have the ability to detain suspects while waiting for the police authorities to show up to address the issue, and generally that is what is practiced outside of their jurisdictional responsibility.

[mc1]

@MikeyPI:  That is one of the best explanations of law enforcement jurisdiction I have ever seen.  I should know, I used to be a Police Officer.  Again, great job sir.