Police Station Information
There are about 665,700 police officers in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That number rises to 883,600 when detectives are included. Like any other employee, police officers need a "home base" for their work, and police stations serve this purpose. Taking a look at station information is beneficial in understanding the work of police officers and detectives.
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Organization
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Police stations usually are organized according to division. This means that people who work the same type of cases are located in the same general area to make communication easier. For example, patrol officers may have desks on one floor, while homicide detectives have desks on another.
Sections
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In addition to separate space for each type of officer, police stations have sections for specific tasks, as shown by Visual-Merriam-Webster.com. There usually are rooms for interrogation, holding suspects, booking and processing, filing complaints, and conducting research and accessing databases. There typically is at least one room in which all of the officers can gather for station meetings or conferences. Police stations also have rooms for storing evidence and completing administrative tasks. Some stations have locker rooms so officers can store personal items while on their shift or change in and out of their uniforms. Police stations may have their own gun range or other training facilities.
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Functions
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Police stations serve two functions. First, they give police officers a common place to gather in order to complete law enforcement duties. Second, they serve as a place for police officers to temporarily hold suspects in the interest of public safety.
Jurisdiction
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Every police station has its own jurisdiction (i.e., every station has authority over a specific geographical region). In some cases, police stations may need to work together in order to complete work. For example, an officer pursuing a suspect in a car may request backup from another department if the suspect crosses into another department's jurisdiction. For this reason, police departments should not be seen as separate entities, but rather should be viewed as smaller parts of a larger law enforcement system.
More Information
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Information on every police department within the United States is available online. Usacops.com allows users to search for specific departments by clicking through a sequence of states and counties. This website provides basic information on specific departments such as its street address, phone number and chief officer's name. More information also is available from the websites for individual stations, some of which have links on usacops.com.
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References
- Photo Credit Police image by Zeno from Fotolia.com
