ABSTRACT
People Power Police work is a unique, multibillion dollar, labor-intensive industry built around order maintenance, law enforcement, and the provision of other essential government services. By the early 2000s, for example, more than 17,000 police agencies at all levels of government spent nearly 48 billion dollars to “protect and serve” their constituents. Most of these funds-80 to 90 percent-went to cover salaries and benefits for more than 850,000 full-and part-time law enforcement personnel. Municipal governments spend more than 20 percent of their total budgetary outlay on police services. The per capita expenditure for police service in cities and counties ranges anywhere from $131.00 to $848.00 per year, with a mean expenditure of $264.00. It is estimated that it now costs more than $300,000 per year to field a fully equipped and professionally trained police officer around the clock in urban high-crime areas ( Hamblin, 1994; U.S. Department of Justice, 2009 ).
