Press "Enter" to skip to content

Letter: Police officers often first responders at scene

Editor, Gazette-Journal:

The primary responsibility of law enforcement in any response situation is the protection of life, limb and property—whether it be a crime in progress, a traffic-related incident or any number of incidents produced by Mother Nature. Many times, law enforcement officers are the first trained or certified individuals to arrive at an incident or emergency, having to take responsibility for protection and preservation of life, property, evidence and the environment.

While fighting crime and attempting to prevent crime are essential roles of law enforcement, it is by no means the most prevalent; some even view it as not the most important. Community Policing is a term used to describe a philosophy of policing in which law enforcement identifies quality of life issues and solutions to problems to make our community a safer and better place to live. Sometimes solutions to problems are better achieved outside the criminal justice system.

As first responders, w...

To view the rest of this article, you must log in. If you do not have an account with us, please subscribe here.