Apart from maintaining order and service functions, the purpose of policing is the investigation of suspected criminal activity and the referral of the results of investigations and of suspected criminals to the courts. They also provide first response to emergencies and other threats to public safety; the protection of certain public facilities and infrastructure; the maintenance of public order; the protection of public officials; and the operation of some correctional facilities.

Types of Police:

• Federal Police- possesses full federal authority as given to them under United States Code (U.S.C.). Federal Law Enforcement Officers are authorized to enforce various laws not only at the federal level, but also state, county, and local in many circumstances.
• State Police- they perform functions outside the jurisdiction of the county sheriff (Vermont being a notable exception), such as enforcing traffic laws on state highways and interstate expressways, overseeing the security of the state capitol complex, protecting the governor, training new officers for local police forces too small to operate an academy, providing technological and scientific support services, and helping to coordinate multi-jurisdictional task force activity in serious or complicated cases in those states that grant full police powers statewide.
• County Police- they tend to exist only in metropolitan counties and have countywide jurisdiction. In some areas, there is a sheriff’s department which only handles issues such as service of papers such as a constable in
• other areas, along with security for the local courthouse.
• Sheriff Police- is a county official and is typically the top law enforcement officer of a county. The sheriff was also commander of the militia in that county. Distinctive to law enforcement in the United States, sheriffs are usually elected.
• Municipal Police- covering multiple communities and municipalities, often over a wide area typically coterminous with one or more cities or counties. Metropolitan departments have usually have been formed by a merger between local agencies, typically several local police departments and often the local sheriff’s department or office, in efforts to provide greater efficiency by centralizing command and resources and to resolve jurisdictional problems, often in communities experiencing rapid population growth and urban sprawl, or in neighboring communities too small to afford individual police departments.

• Handguns
• Less lethal weapons
• Specialized weapons
• Body Armor