Question

In this research paper, you will do some in-depth academic search for industry trends. A trend could be something that you, as an industry insider is aware of, an emerging trend, or it could be a trend that you think is unrecognized or disputed. You will use your resources to provide evidence for the trends you choose, and your initial choices may change as you continue to read more deeply. Scan resources that you found in periodicals, journals, newspapers, industry blogs, and websites to choose the best references to help you devise the top trends. Use industry-specific keywords and industry codes, and take notes on resources as you read because you will be building on this research in the next step when you choose an issue within one of the trends. Record notes from the resources and record the complete citation in APA format in your draft References page now in accordance with the APA Style Guide Sixth Edition. Be diligent in your choices about the resources you choose. What to do: Research the field of Law Enforcement and identify the top three trends. Then, you choose an issue of particular interest to research and write a short analytical paper on the impact of this issue on your field. You will develop a paper that accomplishes two objectives: 1. It will identify the three top trends in your industry (law enforcement) and your rationale, based on the resources you have found, for your choices; 2. It will discuss the issue within one of the trends that you deem important, based on the current state of the industry, and will be supported by your analysis of facts and a well-reasoned conclusion of what it means to the industry. Start with an outline and flesh out the main themes with supporting statements. This will become your roadmap to an organized paper. Draft, sleep on it, and edit. Repeat. Your paper will be 5-7 pages, not including your cover page and References page(s), double-spaced and set up in APA standards. It does not require an abstract. Your citations, both “in text” and in References will be in accordance with the APA Style Manual Sixth Edition. Your headings must follow this general pattern: I. Introduction II. Findings A. Top Trends of the Law Enforcement Industry B. An Important Emerging Issue in a trend and what it means in context to the industry III. Conclusions IV. References   Read through the attached sample to see the quality of research that you’re expected to deliver. Notice the depth of research and how the author backs arguments with statistics, figures, and citations. Similarly, use statistics, figures where required to make your claims credible/valid. The rule is that whenever you provide those figures in a sentence, provide a citation at the end of that sentence.

Answer

Trends in Law Enforcement

Contents

Introduction. 2

Findings. 2

A: Top Trends in Law Enforcement Industry. 2

B: An Important Emerging Issue in a trend and its implications for the Industry. 4

Conclusion. 6

References. 7

Introduction

The law enforcement and security industry is made up of people and institutions which ensure that all citizens are secure by maintaining law and order (Dempsey and Forst, 2013). It is divided into public and private sectors where the public sector is comprised of federal agencies and state and local agencies while the private sector includes different security firms. To begin with, state and local agencies operate within different jurisdictions and they include the police and county sheriffs among others. Private security firms provide security to individuals at a fee and they mostly employ private investigators and security guards among others. Lastly, the federal agencies include Federal Bureau of Investigations and Federal Bureau of Prisons among others (Myers, 2012). The federal agencies and local and state agencies are mostly funded by tax payers’ money while private security firms are funded by the people who require private security. Just like any other industry, this industry has strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and trends. The aim of this paper is to discuss three current trends in the law enforcement and security industry, as well as give further information about an important issue surrounding one of those trends.

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Findings

A: Top Trends in Law Enforcement Industry

            According to research, the private sector of the law enforcement and security industry is likely to grow significantly in the foreseeable future (Dempsey and Forst, 2016; Doss and Jensen, 2013). In the United States of America, it was estimated that in 2016, this segment of the law enforcement industry would grow by seventeen percent; however, in some states such as California, a growth of about twenty two percent was recorded (Dempsey and Forst, 2016). Moreover, the private security’s global market has also been growing. At the beginning of 2012, the rate at which this market was estimated to grow was by seven point five percent which would be equivalent to two hundred billion dollars (Doss and Jensen, 2013). This is an indication that services provided by private security firms such as monitoring alarm systems and guarding services would be one of the major segments of the industry. Therefore, the private security sector would be a viable area to invest in since it shows a likelihood of growth in the near future.

            As time goes by, the American local law enforcement team is becoming more diverse. More people from the minority groups such as the Hispanics are joining law enforcement agencies. This has mainly been as a result of policies that give people from the minority groups in America the same opportunities as the members of the majority groups. Between 2002 and 2007, the number of Hispanic police officers had increased by sixteen percent, that of African American officers had increased by five percent while that of other minority groups increased by seven percent (Dempsey and Forst, 2016). In addition, more women have also been recruited in the local police force. Consequently, local law enforcement agencies should incorporate policies that accommodate the different cultures of the employees.

            Currently, many people are becoming conscious about their security and demand more police services than before. This is mainly due to the increased rate of insecurity in different parts of the world. Most of these insecurity cases are being triggered by drug-related feuds between drug dealers. With more people demanding for police services, employment of police officers and detectives at local and state agencies is likely to increase (Dempsey, Forst and Carter, 2017). This would be a move made towards ensuring the agencies do not become understaffed and the employees are not overworked. As a result, the law and enforcement agencies and the entire industry will grow bigger in the near future. More people should therefore be encouraged to get the required skills at law enforcement schools such as the police academy since there will be many employment opportunities in this industry.  

B: An Important Emerging Issue in a trend and its implications for the Industry

            Private security services include guarding, monitoring alarm systems and private investigation among others. These services are offered to individuals, institutions and even governments at a fee. Trends show that the private security segment is likely to grow over time and this has been attributed to various factors. In the first place, there has been increased use of private security services by various government worldwide. For instance, estimates show that America used around three billion dollars to hire private firms to provide security for diplomats in Iraq after the American troops were withdrawn from Iraq (Doss and Jensen, 2013).

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Secondly, there has been increased demand for private security services in the transportation sector. Goods are transported from one place to another on a daily basis in order to reach the targeted markets. However, they are prone to attack by thieves and pirates. As a result, many organizations have been hiring private security firms to offer protection to their goods as they are being transported. By 2011, almost half of the ships passing through the Indian Ocean were being accompanied by security agents from private security firms (Doss and Jensen, 2013).

Lastly, many people feel that the security being offered by the public agencies such as the police is not adequate. Urbanization and modernization in most societies around the world has brought about a huge range of social issues. Some of these issues include increased number of gangs, drug dealing and drug abuse. All these issues among others have in turn led to an increased crime rate making it hard for public agencies to offer adequate security to all citizens. Thus, there has been an increase in the demand for private security services in the market. For example, from 2001, the number of private security firms in South Africa has increased by sixty six point seven percent in an effort to complement the security services offered by the local police (Doss and Jensen, 2013).

The important issue surrounding the fast rate at which the private sector of the law enforcement and security industry is growing is privatization. If these trends continue, the world will reach a point whereby most of the security services will be offered by private bodies rather than the government. This would be both a blessing and a curse due to various reasons. To begin with, privatization of this industry would guarantee quality services. A major challenge facing the public sector of the law enforcement industry is shortage of resources (Doss and Jensen, 2013). As a result, they are not able to provide the citizens with adequate security. However, since citizens would be paying for the security services directly, private security agencies will be able to provide their personnel with the required resources in order to attract more clients.

            The main disadvantage of complete privatization of the security industry is selective provision of security services. The government allocates part of tax payers’ money to cater for the security services they receive from public law enforcement agencies. Consequently, all citizens regardless of their economic or social class are able to receive basic security services. In the event that the security industry becomes privatized, the poor would not be able to pay for security services offered by private firms. This would be unfair and against human rights since every citizen is entitled to living in a secure environment.

Conclusion

            The law enforcement and security industry comprises people and institutions that maintain law and order. It is divided into the private sector and the public sector. The private sector of the company is owned by individuals who provide security services such as guarding at a fee. The public sector on the other hand includes federal, state and local agencies which are funded by the government. There have been several trends in this industry some of which include the significant growth of the private sector of the industry and increased diversity in the workforce.

The growth in the private sector is attributed to inadequate services provided by the public sector, increased use of private security firms by governments and companies. If the private sector keeps on growing, there is a danger that the entire industry would be privatized. This will mean that those who are able to pay for the services would be able to receive adequate security while those who cannot pay would be left without any security. Governments should regulate the rate at which privatization of the industry is occurring and also allocate more resources to the public security agencies in order to increase the quality of service they offer.

References

Dempsey, J. S. and Forst, L. S., (2016). An Introduction to Policing (8^th Ed.). Boston: Cengage Learning.

 Dempsey, J. S., Carter, S. B. and Forst, L. S., (2017). An Introduction to Policing (9^th Ed.). Boston: Cengage Learning.

Doss, D. A., Jensen, C. J., Wigginton, M., Kennedy, R., Winter, K. R., Mongue, R. E., Bound, J., Estis-Sumerel, M. and McElreath, D. H., (2013). Introduction to Law Enforcement. Boca Raton, London and New York: CRC Press. Myer, J., (2012). Industry Employment Outlook: Law Enforcement and Security. Recruit Military. Obtained from http://search-and-employ.com/industry-employment-outlook-law-enforcement/