Many other countries have but a single, unified police force. Do you believe that implementing a national police force of this type would work in the United States? Why, or why not?
REPLY TO MY CLASSMATE’S RESPONSE TO THE ABOVE QUESTIONS AND EXPLAIN WHY YOU AGREE? (A MINIMUM OF 100 WORDS or MORE)
                                                         CLASSMATE’S POST
There is not a national police force in the America, where policing is organized in every state according to the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) on a local and state basis. Having one National Police Force would not work or be beneficial to the citizens because every state is, and city is different and unique. The United States has around 500,000 police officers and a total of 40,000 separate police forces, over half of which are simply one or two-man sheriffs’ offices in small towns. The founders did not want a police state. They knew that concentrating power in one police organization leads to tyranny. Many citizens believe that racial injustice is simply a part of police officers’ manner of operation. As such, in some areas, police agencies have lost their legitimacy. Legitimacy, according to Peak and Giacomazzi (2019), is the extent to which the community believes that police actions are appropriate, proper, and just.
In considering all politics is local. Therefore, local policing is more in tune to the needs of the community they are tasked to police. Even Federal Police, such as US Capitol Police, ATF and Border Patrol, are constrained by their respective missions. America it is NOT a single nation, but a Union of 50 different ‘nations,’ or states that came collectively to make a small principal government for the collective protections of local citizens. Each U.S. State is unique, it has its own unique laws, justice system, and law enforcement agencies. The federal law enforcement agencies (like the FBI) are brought in for cases where a criminal has committed crimes in more than one State, or has committed crimes in federal jurisdiction for example, on a federal military installation, located within a specific U.S. State. Police Chiefs and executives are now becoming much more heavily involved in what is constitutional policing which is a cornerstone of community policing and the efforts of problems solving (Peak, & Giacomazzi, 2019). Therefore, a national Police Force will create more problem and is not necessary. It’s against the political philosophy of America. The longtime director J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI was watchful in preventing any effort to turn the FBI into a form of national police force. The FBI is an INVESTIGATIVE agency.  It would invest too much power into a single agency. The U.S. prefers multiple agencies, both federal and state and local, to respond to specific law enforcement needs.
                                                                             References
Peak, K. J., & Giacomazzi, A. L. (2019). Justice administration: Police, courts, and corrections management (9th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson