Law Enforcement and the Criminal Justice System

Law Enforcement in the Criminal Justice System

  • Law enforcement is the "initiator" or "prime-mover" of the Criminal Justice System (CJS).
  • Initiates actions for other pillars to act upon.
  • Examples of law enforcement initiating actions:
    • Effecting an arrest
    • Surveillance
    • Crime Investigation

Functions of Law Enforcement in Relation to the CJS

  • To prevent criminal behavior: Eliminating the cause of crimes
  • To reduce crime: Reducing opportunities for criminal behavior
  • To apprehend and arrest offenders: Crime investigation and gathering evidence
  • To regulate non-criminal conduct: Community service and maintaining order

Law Enforcement Agencies

  • The Philippine National Police
  • The National Bureau of Investigation
  • The Bureau of Internal Revenue (in cases of tax evasion)

The Philippine National Police (PNP)

  • Government agency with the primary mandate to perform the police function under the constitution.
  • Established by R.A 6975, also known as the DILG ACT of 1990.
  • Established on January 1991.
  • Reorganized by virtue of R.A 8551 on February 28, 1998, entitled “THE PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE REFORM ACT OF 1998”.

Powers and Functions of the PNP (Under 6975)

  • Enforce all laws and ordinances protecting lives and properties.
  • Maintain peace and order and ensure public safety.
  • Investigate and prevent crimes, arrest offenders, and assist in their prosecution.
  • Exercise general powers to make arrests, search, and seizures.
  • Detain arrested persons within the prescribed legal period and inform them of their rights.
  • Issue licenses for firearms and explosives.
  • Supervise and control the training and operations of security agencies, security guards, and private detectives.

Four Categories of PNP Power (Based on R.A 6975)

  1. Order Maintenance: Managing minor offenses and neighborhood disorders.
  2. Community Service: Providing citizens with formal access to departmental decision-making.
  3. Law Enforcement: Helping-system roles assumed by law enforcement.
  4. Neighborhood Policing/Team Policing/Community Policing
    • Police officers, staff and volunteers accessible to, responsible for and accountable to communities
    • Community engagement that builds trust and develops a sophisticated understanding of community needs
    • Collaborative problem-solving with communities supported by integrated working with private, public and voluntary sectors.

Crime Detection

  • The police are the first component of the justice system to deal with the commission of a crime.
  • Ways crime is detected:
    • Victim reports the crime to the police.
    • Witness reports the crime.
    • Police discover the crime through routine operations.

Buy-Bust Operation

  • A form of "entrapment" where police officers restore ways and means to catch a law violator.

Crime Control Functions and "Rationing"

  • Crime control functions are intertwined with the "rationing concept" in the enforcement of criminal law.
  • Rationing refers to when the police selectively enforces criminal law for various reasons.