What is Municipal Policing?

We all know that police officers are here to keep us safe, but our understanding of what they do is often limited to when they pull us over for speeding. In reality, police officers perform a wide range of services to keep the public safe and prevent crime. A police department’s core mission is to protect life and property, enforce the law, and limit public disorder. Under these three central principles fall a host of responsibilities, such as community engagement, responding to crimes or emergencies, crime prevention, crisis management, criminal investigations, regulating traffic and performing crowd control. To accomplish this, there are certain programs common in local police departments across the country, some of which we are familiar with and some we may have not thought twice about, such as coordinating activities with community organizations, assisting school administrators in support of safer schools, and making neighborhood patrols. Police provide essential services that keeping your community running smoothly and safely. The more your community can be aware of all the different activities police are involved in, and the more officers can get out and engage with the community in positive ways (and not just when they pull someone over), the more your community will thrive.