Police Department Organization

Police Department Organization

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

Police Department Organization

Introduction

Law enforcement agencies are an important and integral part of society. These agencies make sure that everything in the community is happening in accordance with law and order and there are no security issues in the country. Without the presence of these agencies, there would be chaos and disturbance in the society, and the evil would prevail. Without them, the crime rate would soar to skies, and the criminals would commit any sort of crime without any fear or shame. These law enforcement agencies make sure that there is peace in the state and no one tries to disturb the harmony of the society so that the citizens of the country can sleep in peace.

Two essential components of this peace-keeping process are police and military or army. Police is that part of the law enforcement agency that deals with the security and safety of citizens at the local level and makes sure that no crime occurs at a national level. The keep the town and cities safe and eliminates crime at domestic level. Another type of law enforcement agency, military or army, protects the country and its citizens against the international forces and ensures that no enemy from outside threatens the sovereignty if the country. They detect and fight both the visible and invisible forces that act against the state.

There has been a trend recently regarding the paramilitarization of the police department. Paramilitarizing is a term used for creating a force that has the same organizational structure, tactics, and subculture just like the military forces. It even gets formal training like the military forces and sometimes also function like them but is not a part of the professional military (Andrade, 2016).

In this respect, the Denver Police Department is a notable name which is performing its duties very skillfully in the region of Colorado. Denver Police department is famous for its honesty and hard work. It consists of 1518 sworn members and 319 unsworn members. Denver Police Department provides services to both the city and the county of Denver, Colorado. The Denver Police Department provides full spectrum security services to the city as well as the county both including the international Airport of Denver. The departments like the Denver Sheriff Department and Denver Fire Department also come under the umbrella of the Denver Department of Public Safety (Gupta et al., 2016).

Not in much older days, Denver police department has undergone various changes which also include the paramilitarization of the Denver Police Department. We can see various personnel from professional military forces joining the mentioned police department. Another notable change consists of the designing and implementation of rules and regulations in the police department on the footsteps of military forces. Denver Police department is making sure that the rules being designed are inspired form paramilitary forces and the personnel in this department are following it rigorously, just like in the armed forces. One of the reasons for this possible change could be the inclusion of many currently serving or retired army officers in the department who want to make sure that the culture in this department is same like military forces (Guelke, 2018). Moreover, much reliance is being done on the training and weapons being provided by the military training academies and military ordinance factories respectively. Examples of the paramilitarization of Denver police department can be taken in the form of various seats of higher rank currently taken by military personnel, for instance the Deputy Chief of Police is Lieutenant Colonel Barb Archer, Division Chief of Patrol is Lieutenant Colonel Ron Thomas, Division Chief of Investigations is Lieutenant Colonel Joe Montoya and Division Chief of Administration is Lieutenant Colonel Ron Saunier.

Pros and cons of a paramilitary structure

For many, this paramilitary structure of the police department may be disturbing, and it is, to some extent, but it carries multiple advantages with itself as well. Just like any other organizational structure, this structure provides some benefits and some disadvantages to the police department as well as the general society, which have been elaborated as under:

Pros:

The paramilitarization of the police department may prove beneficial in the following ways:

Police personnel gets better training to cope up with the crime and activities of terrorism.

The general public feels more safe and secure in the presence of better trained and efficiently equipped personnel.

The police can provide better protection to the citizens of the city or the state against domestic or foreign evil powers.

The surplus weapons produced for the army are effectively and efficiently used by the police department instead of rusting in any warehouse.

The evil forces and terrorists also remain alarmed that the police force is now more trained and equipped.

Cons:

With the paramilitarization of the Police department, the police can

Use the force excessively and unjustly,

Invade the privacy of citizens.

Citizens may perceive heavily armed forces as adversarial,

It can result in racial upheaval.

The police may indulge in the frequent incidents of violation of civil rights.

Conclusion

In short, paramilitarization of the structure of the Denver Police Department has possibly brought many benefits as well as adversities for the department. In my opinion, the pros outweigh the disadvantages. Only if the powers are utilized in a reasonable manner, and the rights of citizens are understood properly, the Denver Police Department can achieve great heights and become the best police department in the whole country and even in the world.

References

Andrade, J. (2016). World police & paramilitary forces. Springer.

Guelke, A. (2018). Political violence and the paramilitaries. In Politics in Northern Ireland (pp. 29-51). Routledge.

Gupta, A., Mohammad, A., Syed, A., & Halgamuge, M. N. (2016). A comparative study of classification algorithms using data mining: crime and accidents in Denver City the USA. Education, 7(7), 374-381.