Police Power and law Enforcement Tactics:
Police Power
Police is one of the Law enforcement agencies saddled with the clear legal duty of maintaining peace and order in the state. They have the legal power of securing the lives and property of the masses in a given state. The duties of the police are enormous and colossal but the major part is that they must maintain the internal peace of the state or community.
The police are one of the agencies known to law and they have played the best role in maintaining the smooth running of society. They have the power to arrest a suspect and to also prosecute him in a court of law. They have the power to investigate matters and effect searches.
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The police have the power to mount searches on moving vehicles to avoid the transportation of weapons from one place to the other. The powers of the police are usually limited to the provision of the law that governs them. They carry out their duties to maintain and preserve lives and properties and peaceful existence in the state.
The police powers include the following:
- Preservation of law and order: it is one of the important duties of the police to preserve the law and order in the state. They work tirelessly in the state to see that laws are being abided by and kept by the citizens and those that tend to violate the laws are usually dragged to the court and are been charged for such violations. The police assist in seeing that the laws that are enacted by the state are being obeyed and preserved for the betterment of everyone in society.
- The protection of life and property: the police also help in the preservation of lives and properties in society. They help to curtail and prevent crimes in the state and they help to secure that people are not being killed by criminals. The police help in arresting, detaining, and prosecuting Criminals. They disable those that would have made lives in society nasty, short and brutish.
- Enforcement of all laws and regulations: in the execution of the orders, the police have the power to assist in the enforcement of the law. They are one of the agencies that assist in the enforcement of laws and regulations in the state. The police have the power to enforce the compliance of laws and orders in society and they do so to maintain peace and order in the state.
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- Police also perform such military duties within or outside state as may be required of them: They can also play the military duties in seeing that lives and properties are protected in the state.
- The police also have the power to prosecute matters: in some jurisdictions, the police also have the power to prosecute an Accused person in the court. This they usually do through their legal departments. They prepare charges against Accused persons and also handle the cases in the court till either the discharge and acquittal of the Accused person or his conviction.