Is police a generic term for law enforcement officers.?

Question

I see deputy sheriffs contracting with cities using police on the side of their cars and on their patches when they are deputies. I see federal agents wearing police raid gear. I see state dmv investigators wearing police jackets. I know mainly people hear police and they think of municipal police forces. However, there are community college police, university police, campus police, school police, Los Angeles County Police, Veterans Police, Mint Police, Bureau of Land Management Rangers who wear police on their shirts. So I guess police is the overall name for all of these law enforcement officers. Heck, the other day on the news there was a district attorney investigator with a police shirt on. Can this be done.

Answer 1

Yes police is the generic term, the most recent term is LEO (Law Enforcement Official).

A police officer is anyone who is trained by a government level (town, county, city, state, nation) who is entitled to carry a gun and has the powers to enforce laws.

Security Guards may be armed, and may be trained, but they are not trained by a government program, but by a private program. They do not have law enforcement powers, even if they are equipped with a gun. They only have the power to detain a suspect.

The Federal Mint and other such buildings are often protected by private security companies, I worked for one such security company, and they also handled security for US embassies, as well as mall security. You could be trained to use and carry a gun, and had to have a government license to do so, but the training is no where near what a LEO goes through. It is more like a seminar compared to basic training for LEOs.

Police are the ones who arrest, investigate, interrogate, and imprison suspects. Since the ATF, DEA, FBI and other federal organizations don't like being called police they have adopted the new term of LEO.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

I am a police officer and I will make this as simple as possible, when you see the word, "Police" it means that this person has certain powers such as the right to make arrests. If some guy was walking around with the words,"Agriculture Agent", "Motor Vehicle Inspector" or a host of other job titles, you'd probably doubt if he or she could rightfully carry a gun and make an arrest. Put "Police" on the uniform and it erases that doubt. It also helps to distinguish from many security guards, event staff others who wear unifroms that look like they are cops.

In large cities, there may be hundreds of officers, agents, inspectors, special officers, and investigators working for muncipal, county, state, federal and even private organizations (schools and hospitals) enforcing laws and conducting investigations, using the word Police helps make things simple.

Answer 4

There are so many different level of law enforcement officers and so many different law enforcement organization in America that it is at the point of need a police for the police.

Police is indeed a generic name for all enforcement officers at all levels but it is not technically correct.

Police are organizations empowered to control public and social order through various means of coercion including the legitimate use of force. The term is most commonly associated with police departments of a state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility

Answer 5

They put the police sign on so that they can be identified to others and the general public / it doesn't mean that other clowns should have the word police on their apparel especially if they are just haven't got police powers so it's just a waste of my time

Answer 6

Yes

Answer 7

Yes. And to a less common extent, you will sometimes see it used by private security organizations. I personally disapprove of that practice as it makes it easy for the public to confuse security guards with cops.

Answer 8

If they are not abusing their powers they are allowed to indicate they are policing their premises

Answer 9

yes

Answer 10

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa