Editing Police (section)

==Personnel and organization==
Police forces include both preventive (uniformed) police and [[detective]]s. Terminology varies from country to country. Police functions include protecting life and property, enforcing [[criminal law]], criminal investigations, regulating traffic, crowd control, public safety duties, civil defense, emergency management, searching for missing persons, lost property and other duties concerned with public order. Regardless of size, police forces are generally organized as a [[hierarchy]] with multiple [[Police rank|ranks]]. The exact structures and the names of rank vary considerably by country.

===Uniformed===
{{See also|Uniform#Police}}[[File:Day 274 - West Midlands Police - Patrolling public transport connection points (8033012427).jpg|thumb|Uniformed police officers of the [[West Midlands Police]]]]
The police who wear [[uniform]]s make up the majority of a police service's personnel. Their main duty is to respond to [[Call for service|calls for service]]. When not responding to these calls, they do work aimed at preventing crime, such as [[patrol]]s. The uniformed police are known by varying names such as preventive police, the uniform branch/division, administrative police, order police, the patrol bureau/division, or patrol. In Australia and the United Kingdom, patrol personnel are also known as "general duties" officers.<ref name="bayley-1979">{{cite journal |author=Bayley, David H. |title=Police Function, Structure, and Control in Western Europe and North America: Comparative and Historical Studies |journal=Crime & Justice |volume=1 |year=1979 |pages=109–143 |id={{NCJ|63672}} |doi=10.1086/449060|s2cid=144851432 }}</ref> Atypically, [[Brazil]]'s preventive police are known as [[Military Police (Brazil)|Military Police]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.policiamilitar.mg.gov.br/_pmmg.htm |title=PMMG |publisher=Policiamilitar.mg.gov.br |access-date=2009-06-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080712083616/http://www.policiamilitar.mg.gov.br/_pmmg.htm |archive-date=July 12, 2008 }}</ref>

As stated by the name, uniformed police wear [[uniform]]s. They perform functions that require an immediate recognition of an officer's legal authority and a potential need for force. Most commonly this means intervening to stop a crime in progress and securing the scene of a crime that has already happened. Besides dealing with crime, these officers may also manage and monitor traffic, carry out [[community policing]] duties, maintain order at public events or carry out searches for [[Missing person|missing people]] (in 2012, the latter accounted for 14% of police time in the United Kingdom).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19360824|title=What happens when someone goes missing?|work=BBC News|date=24 August 2012|access-date=3 September 2018}}</ref> As most of these duties must be available as a [[24/7 service]], uniformed police are required to do [[shift work]].

===Detectives===
[[File:Oklahoma City Police Homicide Detectives.jpeg|thumb|[[Oklahoma City Police Department]] detectives in "plainclothes" attire investigating a [[homicide]] [[crime scene]]]]
Police [[detective]]s are responsible for investigations and detective work. Detectives may be called Investigations Police, Judiciary/Judicial Police, or Criminal Police. In the United Kingdom, they are often referred to by the name of their department, the [[Criminal Investigation Department]]. Detectives typically make up roughly 15–25% of a police service's personnel.

Detectives, in contrast to uniformed police, typically wear business-styled attire in bureaucratic and investigative functions, where a uniformed presence would be either a distraction or intimidating but a need to establish police authority still exists. "Plainclothes" officers dress in attire consistent with that worn by the general public for purposes of blending in.

In some cases, police are assigned to work "[[undercover]]", where they conceal their police identity to investigate crimes, such as [[organized crime]] or [[narcotic]]s crime, that are unsolvable by other means. In some cases, this type of policing shares aspects with [[espionage]].

The relationship between detective and uniformed branches varies by country. In the United States, there is high variation within the country itself. Many American police departments require detectives to spend some time on temporary assignments in the patrol division.{{Citation needed|date=July 2008}}<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Barnes|first=James|title=The benefits of implementing a rotating detective position|journal=Huntsville Police Department}}</ref> The argument is that rotating officers helps the detectives to better understand the uniformed officers' work, to promote [[cross-training]] in a wider variety of skills, and prevent "cliques" that can contribute to corruption or other unethical behavior.{{Citation needed|date=July 2008}} Conversely, some countries regard detective work as being an entirely separate profession, with detectives working in separate agencies and recruited without having to serve in uniform. A common compromise in English-speaking countries is that most detectives are recruited from the uniformed branch, but once qualified they tend to spend the rest of their careers in the detective branch.

Another point of variation is whether detectives have extra status. In some forces, such as the [[New York Police Department]] and [[Philadelphia Police Department]], a regular detective holds a higher rank than a regular police officer. In others, such as [[Law enforcement in the United Kingdom|British police]] and [[Law enforcement in Canada|Canadian police]], a regular detective has equal status with regular uniformed officers. Officers still have to take exams to move to the detective branch, but the move is regarded as being a specialization, rather than a promotion.

===Volunteers and auxiliary===
Police services often include [[Part-time job|part-time]] or [[Volunteering|volunteer]] officers, some of whom have other jobs outside policing. These may be paid positions or entirely volunteer. These are known by a variety of names, such as reserves, [[auxiliary police]] or [[special constables]].

Other volunteer organizations work with the police and perform some of their duties. Groups in the U.S. including the [[Retired and Senior Volunteer Program]], [[Community Emergency Response Team]], and the [[Boy Scouts of America|Boy Scouts]] [[Law Enforcement Exploring|Police Explorers]] provide training, traffic and crowd control, disaster response, and other policing duties. In the U.S., the [[Volunteers in Police Service]] program assists over 200,000 volunteers in almost 2,000 programs.<ref>[https://www.bja.gov/publications/iacp_vips_resourceguide.pdf Volunteer Programs – enhancing Public safety by leveraging resources] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131181229/https://www.bja.gov/publications/iacp_vips_resourceguide.pdf |date=31 January 2017 }}, Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice</ref> Volunteers may also work on the support staff. Examples of these schemes are [[Volunteers in Police Service]] in the US, [[Police Support Volunteers]] in the UK and [[Police Service (Volunteer Police) Amendment Act 1992|Volunteers in Policing]] in New South Wales.

===Specialized===
[[File:SAT operators rushing into a building.jpg|thumb|Japanese [[prefectural police]] [[Special Assault Team]] members preparing to enter a building]]
Specialized preventive and detective groups, or [[Specialist investigation department|Specialist Investigation Department]]s, exist within many law enforcement organizations either for dealing with particular types of crime, such as traffic law enforcement, [[Police dog|K9/use of police dogs]], crash investigation, [[homicide]], or [[fraud]]; or for situations requiring specialized skills, such as [[Police diving|underwater search]], [[Police aviation|aviation]], [[Bomb disposal|explosive disposal]] ("bomb squad"), and [[Cybercrime|computer crime]].

Most larger jurisdictions employ [[police tactical unit]]s, specially selected and trained [[paramilitary]] units with specialized equipment, weapons, and training, for the purposes of dealing with particularly violent situations beyond the capability of a patrol officer response, including standoffs, counterterrorism, and rescue operations.

In [[counterinsurgency]]-type campaigns, select and specially trained units of police armed and equipped as [[light infantry]] have been designated as [[police field force]]s who perform [[paramilitary]]-type patrols and ambushes whilst retaining their police powers in areas that were highly dangerous.<ref>p.Davies, Bruce & McKay, Gary ''The Men Who Persevered:The AATTV'' 2005 Bruce & Unwin</ref>

Because their situational mandate typically focuses on removing innocent bystanders from dangerous people and dangerous situations, not violent resolution, they are often equipped with non-lethal tactical tools like [[chemical agents]], [[stun grenade]]s, and rubber bullets. The [[Specialist Firearms Command]] (MO19)<ref>formerly named SO19 {{cite web|url=http://www.met.police.uk/co19/ |title=Metropolitan Police Service – Central Operations, Specialist Firearms unit (CO19) |publisher=Metropolitan Police Service |access-date=2008-08-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080915102427/http://www.met.police.uk/co19/ |archive-date=September 15, 2008 }}</ref> of the Metropolitan Police in London is a group of armed police used in dangerous situations including hostage taking, armed robbery/assault and terrorism.

===Administrative duties===
Police may have administrative duties that are not directly related to enforcing the law, such as issuing [[firearms license]]s. The extent that police have these functions varies among countries, with police in [[Law enforcement in France|France]], [[Germany]], and other [[continental Europe]]an countries handling such tasks to a greater extent than British counterparts.<ref name="bayley-1979" />

===Military===
{{Main|Military police}}
[[File:NH 73239 International Police patrol.jpg|thumb|American, Australian, and New Zealand military police with a civilian police officer in [[Saigon]] during the [[Vietnam War]], 1965]]
Military police may refer to:
* a section of the [[military]] solely responsible for policing the [[armed forces]], referred to as [[Provost (military police)|provosts]] (e.g., [[United States Air Force Security Forces]])
* a section of the military responsible for policing in both the armed forces and in the civilian population (e.g., most [[gendarmerie]]s, such as the [[National Gendarmerie|French Gendarmerie]], the [[Italy|Italian]] [[Carabinieri]], the Spanish [[Civil Guard (Spain)|Guardia Civil]], and the Portuguese [[National Republican Guard (Portugal)|National Republican Guard]])
* a section of the military solely responsible for policing the civilian population (e.g., [[Gendarmerie (Romania)|Romanian Gendarmerie]])
* the civilian preventive police of a [[Brazilian state]] (e.g., [[Military Police (Brazil)|Policia Militar]])
* a special military law enforcement service (e.g., [[Military Police (Russia)|Russian Military Police]])

===Religious===
{{Main|Religious police}}
Some jurisdictions with [[religious law]]s may have dedicated religious police to enforce said laws. These religious police forces, which may operate either as a unit of a wider police force or as an independent agency, may only have jurisdiction over members of said religion, or they may have the ability to enforce religious customs nationwide regardless of individual religious beliefs.

Religious police may enforce [[social norm]]s, [[gender role]]s, [[dress code]]s, and [[Food and drink prohibitions|dietary laws]] per religious doctrine and laws, and may also prohibit practices that run contrary to said doctrine, such as [[atheism]], [[proselytism]], [[homosexuality]], [[socialization]] between different [[gender]]s, business operations during religious periods or events such as [[salah]] or the [[Sabbath]], or the sale and possession of "offending material" ranging from [[pornography]] to foreign [[Media (communication)|media]].<ref name="asianews.it">{{Cite web |last=AsiaNews.it |title=PAKISTAN Peshawar: noto giurista ucciso a colpi d'arma da fuoco |url=https://www.asianews.it/ |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=www.asianews.it |language=it}}</ref><ref name="news.bbc.co.uk">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2399885.stm |title=Middle East &#124; Saudi minister rebukes religious police |work=BBC News |date=2002-11-04 |access-date=2012-07-11}}</ref>

Forms of religious law enforcement were relatively common in historical religious civilizations, but eventually declined in favor of [[religious tolerance]] and [[Religious pluralism|pluralism]]. One of the most common forms of religious police in the modern world are [[Islamic religious police]], which enforce the application of [[Sharia]] ([[Islam]]ic religious law). As of 2018, there are eight Islamic countries that maintain Islamic religious police: [[Afghanistan]], [[Iran]], [[Iraq]], [[Mauritania]], [[Pakistan]], [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Sudan]], and [[Yemen]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Countries That Follow Sharia Law|url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-that-follow-sharia-law.html|access-date=2021-05-13|website=WorldAtlas|date=23 November 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>

Some forms of religious police may not enforce religious law, but rather [[Religious persecution|suppress religion]] or [[Fundamentalism|religious extremism]]. This is often done for ideological reasons; for example, [[communist state]]s such as [[China]] and [[Vietnam]] have historically suppressed and tightly controlled religions such as [[Christianity]].

===Secret===
{{Main article|Secret police}}
Secret police organizations are typically used to suppress dissidents for engaging in non-politically correct communications and activities, which are deemed counter-productive to what the [[State (polity)|state]] and related [[The establishment|establishment]] promote. Secret police interventions to stop such activities are often illegal, and are designed to debilitate, in various ways, the people targeted in order to limit or stop outright their ability to act in a non-politically correct manner.<ref>{{cite web |title=Secret police |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/secret-police |website=Cambridge Dictionary |publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date=10 September 2022}}</ref> The methods employed may involve [[spying]], various acts of deception, [[intimidation]], [[framing (law)|framing]], false [[imprisonment]], false [[Political abuse of psychiatry|incarceration under mental health legislation]], and physical [[violence]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Secret police |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/secret-police |website=Britannica |access-date=10 September 2022}}</ref> Countries widely reported to use secret police organizations include [[China]]<ref>{{cite news |last1=Palma |first1=Stefania |title=Dissidents targeted on behalf of China's secret police, US prosecutors allege |url=https://www.ft.com/content/dab900e3-8bb4-4cda-9e31-9a38297637ce |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/dab900e3-8bb4-4cda-9e31-9a38297637ce |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |website=The Financial Times |date=16 March 2022 |access-date=10 September 2022}}</ref> ([[Ministry of State Security (China)|The Ministry of State Security]]) and [[North Korea]] ([[Ministry of State Security (North Korea)|The Ministry of State Security]]).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mendee |first1=Jargalsaikhan |title=The Routledge Handbook of Civil-Military Relations |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |location=Oxon |isbn=978-0-415-78273-9 |page=80}}</ref>