NCJ Number
133560
Date Published
1990
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Policing systems of 10 different countries are reviewed in terms of legitimacy, structure, and function criteria as applicable to a definition of police and assessment of variations between different policing systems.
Abstract
Public legitimacy is derived from the law, the organization, the State, the party, and the community. In distinguishing between the colonial, continental, and Anglo-Saxon police systems, the latter is legitimized through the law; the police are accountable to the courts in the same ways as are other systems. While, on some level, this is true of all the police systems described here, the extent of legal control over the police organization varies between countries and between forces within a country. The form of police structure varies considerably according to degrees of centralization, specialization, and rank structure authority. Police functions differ considerably between different countries. While some countries expect their police to be responsible for a wide range of welfare, administrative, and political services, others may focus on one or two of the services or on crime work. A shifting of police patterns needs to be considered in terms of transformation from one form of policing to another. In this international study, political, cultural, and structural features are identified as internal influences on policing and the influences of other policing models as external influences.