Police Goals

Law enforcement agencies have a duty to protect and serve their communities. Many agencies have a set amount of goals and objectives that they try to accomplish. Setting these goals allows them to improve their work as law enforcement agencies and minimize the rate of crime.

Goals for law enforcement agencies should be decided by conducting studies and performing evidence-based research. Surveying the community can also inform the police departments about what people deem as more important. By using the research conducted, the law enforcement agencies can set up goals to improve their relationship with their communities and use different law enforcement methods to keep crime rates low. After having a set of goals which are usually their core beliefs, law enforcement agencies should have a set of objectives. The relationship between the goals and objectives are that objectives can vary from departments, meanwhile there are several goals that are commonly stated such as prevention of crime, promote safety, and uphold and enforce the law (Grant and Terry).

After setting goals and objectives, police departments should come up with procedures on how they are going to accomplish their goals. This could include certain policies that police officers would have to follow. A policy is a statement of principle that guides individual

decisions and ensures that it reflects the objectives of the department (Grant and Terry). One example could be asking officers to not ask citizens for their immigration status (Grant and Terry).

An example of a procedure method would be the Forsyth County Sheriff s Office. Their goal and mission is, "To ensure the security of life and property, prevent crime and disorder, and enforce laws of North Carolina and the USA". They follow up with their strategy stating, "To identify and deploy best practice methods incorporating them into our policies and procedures" (Welcome To The Forsyth County Sheriff s Office). The website states that they will use research methods to incorporate policies and procedures for the department. The sheriff also
leaves a message under the strategy stating, "We are committed to the most current best practices and effective research based methods to ensure the highest quality of life. We are professional, responsible, and accountable" (Welcome To The Forsyth County Sheriff s Office). This message from the sheriff lets the community know that their practices are based on research and that is how they will ensure the safety of citizens. It also adds a message of being responsible and accountable. This allows people in the community the ability to trust the Sheriff s Office.

Police departments and other law enforcement agencies can develop many goals and procedures, but their effectiveness will show through the rate of crime.

In larger cities, it is more difficult to contain crimes and keep them at a low level. Constantly performing studies and surveys can show the effectiveness of the department's goals and procedures. The surveys could also ask what the community thinks of the police. It is important to make sure the communities feel safe and protected by their local law enforcement. It is also important to ask them ifthey feel that police officers are doing a good job at apprehending criminals. By doing research

and

keeping statistical analysis on crime rates, police agencies can develop additional goals and procedures, if the research does not meet their expectations.