AboutWilliam A Saunders Expertise I can answer general questions about the legal system, how the courts work, corrections and law enforcement in general. I cannot provide legal advice.
Experience The criminal justice system, juvenile justice, law enforcement, and community corrections/correctional education
I’m wondering if you could help me at all … I work for a television company in the UK and we are writing a treatment for a cop show set in the USA, probably the Chicago area.
I am trying to find out what the different divisions are in the US police force … for example are there separate squads for different crimes (a man is found shot in the back by someone calling 911, police arrive and then who investigates this?) am I right in thinking that the county/state police deal with all crimes and there are different departments within that deal with the specific types of crimes?
Then am I right in thinking that if it is federal crime the FBI deal with these and they in turn have different departments in the same way as local authorities?
Finally where does the AFT come in to play and are there anymore agencies like this that operate?
Many thanks,
Jon
Answer This is difficult and I hope I do not really make this too cloudy for you. Please ask a follow up question if you have more questions.
If someone got shot in the back and you called 911, the responding police force depends largely on the specific jurisdiction. Here in the United States, most crimes are governed by locality. Each of the 50 states have their own laws and their own police departments. There are federal laws that pertain to certain crimes. But most crimes have statutes within each invidual state. To compound things further, even within each state, there are often different police departments who handle investigation of crimes in their areas. Major cities have their own police force, and each state has its own police force.
For instance, I live in Maryland. With the exception of the City of Baltimore, all other governments in Maryland are divided by county. There are 24 counties plus Baltimore City, and each has its own budget and takes care of functioning and maintenance of all services in their respective areas, including police services.
For instance, the county where I live is Montgomery County, and for most crimes in this area, calling 911 would bring the Montgomery County Police Department. However, some cities in Montgomery County have incorporation, like the city of Rockville is an example…it receives funding from Montgomery County. So, if you were in the city of Rockville – depending on where you were – either the Rockville Police or the Montgomery County Police might respond – or both.
If you’re confused, just wait. If that same crime occurred on land that were state owned, as opposed to being exclusively owned by the City of Rockville or by Montgomery County, then the Maryland State Police would respond, and maybe all of the other aforementioned police departments would respond too. If there were some United States government-owned property and that crime took place there and you called 911, you might get all of those agencies; however, the federal US government police agency responsible for that property would be the lead investigative agency.
So, if you haven’t figured out yet, there is no one single United States police force. The most well known and the one with the largest grasp is the FBI. But the FBI only investigates specific types of crimes. (learn more about them here: http://www.fbi.gov/hq.htm). Sometimes the FBI conducts investigations of crime in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies; but they usually are the lead agency. It all depends on where it is and the type of crime. The FBI does have multiple divisions within its agency but they do not investigate all crimes.
Like, one thing that surprises many people is that crimes that involve counterfeit money would involve the US Secret Service. Most people only think of the Secret Service as the agency protecting our public officials. But the Secret Service was established in 1865 for it's financial investigative duties. They were charged with protective duties much later after the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901.
The main thing in the United States is who has jurisdiction over a particular crime. There are several US federal government law enforcement agencies, and each one does its own specific set of investigations.
Here are some other federal law enforcement agencies you may look at and each one handles specific types of crimes:
Finally, if you are basing your story on the Chicago area, then you should include in your research the Chicago Police Department: www.chicagopolice.org
Good luck in your research. Hope this information was useful to you. Sorry for taking so long to get back to you.
