Talk:Law enforcement agency

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Merge / redirect
Article now rewritten. Peet Ern (talk) 04:55, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

This page should be merged with / redirected to Law enforcement and/or List of law enforcement agencies. I can't see the point of this article. --Kevin23


 * There is no Law enforcement article; it's a redirect to police. I only noticed this article now, but after working on law enforcement articles for a while, this could be quite useful. "Police" is a pretty broad topic, and that article should reflect that, but there's a lot of material on law enforcement agencies specifically currently crowding that article that would make more sense here. If the police article ever gets done up to be adequately comprehensive, it would be huge unless it's subdivided. Just noticing from editors contributions as well, it seems to divide along these lines, i.e., some people are interested in police operations and organization (which could be covered here), while others are more interested in police issues. That said, I can't imagine that work will get done any time soon, at least til I get around to it (which might take some time), so for now, I'm indifferent to a merge, and see this merely as a placeholder for a future article. Bobanny 06:56, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Bias - US outlook only - a rewrite ?
Article now rewritten. Peet Ern (talk) 04:55, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

It is probably unintentional, but the phrasing of some of the content is rather baised. For example, the statement, 'Even so, non-police law enforcement agencies exist outside of the US. . .', is not exactly Wiki or encylopaedic.

I suggest that the article be rewritten something like as follows:

A law enforcement agency (LEA) is a term used to describe an organisation that enforces the laws of one or more governing bodies, or actively and directly assists in the enforcement of law. In doing so, the LEA assists the governing bodies to govern their subjects. LEAs will have some form of geographic restriction on their ability to apply their powers. The LEA might be able to apply its powers within a country, for example the United States of America's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, within a division of a country, for example the Australian state Queensland Police, or across a collection of countries, for example Interpol or the European Union's Europol.

Many law enforcement agencies are Police agencies that have a broad range powers and responsibilities. Police agencies, however, also often have a range of responsibilities not related to law enforcement. These responsibilities relate to social order and public safety.

LEAs can be responsible for enforcing secular law and-or religious law, for example Sharia or Halakha.

LEAs can be responsible for the enforcement of laws affecting the behaviour of people, for example New York City Police Department, organisations and corporations, for example the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, and even the governing bodies they support.

LEAs which have their ability to apply their powers restricted in some way are said to have a defined jurisdiction. A LEA which has a wide range of powers but whose ability is restricted geographically, typically to an area which is only part of a country, are referred to as local police or territorial police.

The term 'law enforcement agency' is often used in the United States of America to refer to police agencies, but in most other countries the term when used formally includes many agencies other than only police agencies. 152.91.9.190 (talk) 06:09, 30 January 2008 (UTC)


 * A rewrite done - hopefully it helpsPee Tern (talk) 05:22, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

Rewrite in progress
Article now rewritten. Peet Ern (talk) 04:55, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

I am doing a major rewrite and restructure of this article. For the time being, if you have any suggestions or corrections to make, please post them here so that I can properly include them as I go. Pee Tern (talk) 21:27, 4 February 2008 (UTC)


 * I haven't read the article, but a couple of comments on the headings:
 * The tiny ones (level 6?) where the text is smaller than the body text do not look like headings at all.
 * Yep I know. I asked about this on the Help desk  Nothing really helpful yet has been provided . . . ? Pee Tern (talk) 22:57, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia standard is to not user Upper Case on Words in Headings, i.e., do not use upper case on words in hadings. Exceptions for place names, proper names, etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by RenniePet (talk • contribs) 18:34, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Fixed. Thanks for the tip. Pee Tern (talk) 22:57, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

rational vs. fractured
I am not sure what the difference between a rational and a fractured approach to law enforcement. Obviously, they are not opposites. the opposite of rational is irrational, and while the US law enforcement may not be as efficient or effective, the US approach is not unreasonable. The opposite of fractured could be unified, which the police in Belgium and Austria seem to be, as local and federal police are integrated. of course even though the US, Belgium, and Austria are all federations, the US is vastly different than the others, being much larger, and many more jurisdictions. The fact that you have 50 states, each state has their own judicial system and law enforcement system Rds865 (talk) 07:13, 22 September 2008 (UTC)
 * The word used was rationalised, not rational, which is idiomatically quite different. However, after the prompting, and rereading, it could be construed as possibly POV, certainly possibly not a world view wording given the potential for literal rather than idiomatic interpretation.  I have changed rationalised to relatively unified.  What do you think?  Peet Ern (talk) 08:19, 22 September 2008 (UTC)

Also
a Law enforcement agency (LEA) is an organisation that enforces the law.

Thx, Captain Obvious —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.140.233.179 (talk) 22:24, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

Clear Bias In Powers and law exemptions of a law enforcement agency
I think a quick read of this section tells the story on its own. There is a clearly negative tone - making it sounds as though all the police do is take away civil liberties. Even the title of the section draws some concern - in most states, the police are not above the law. The law provides for peace officers to perform their duties by providing exceptions. The current wording suggests that the police are exempt from the law. Anyway, just some food for thought. lesthaeghet (talk) 04:57, 14 May 2012 (UTC)

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