Enforcing the law

Governments have many ways of making sure that citizens obey the law. They make the public aware of what the law is and try to encourage social support for law and order. They use police forces to investigate crimes and catch criminals. They authorize courts to complete the investigation of criminal and civil offences and pass sentences to punish the guilty and deter others. And they make efforts to re-educate and reform people who have broken law.

The laws of all countries are to be found in written records – the legal codes of countries with continental systems, the statutes and case judgments of common law countries, warnings on official forms and notices in public buildings. Many people do not know where to find these records and do not find it easy to read them. But ignorance of the law is almost never a defense for breaking it. Governments usually expect citizens to be aware of the laws which affect their lives. Sometimes they seem very harsh, for example, when the law is very technical.

Police

Britain has 52 regional police forces, which are responsible for maintaining law and order in their own area. London has two police forces, the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police. Each regional police force is led by a Chief Constable. Police officers wear dark blue uniforms, and constables wear tall hard helmets. The British police force is relatively small, with one police officer to every 400 people. Each police force has a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of detectives. CID officers are chosen from the police. They do not wear uniforms and have the title Detective before their rank, e.g. Detective Inspector Jones. Individual police forces have other special units for areas such as traffic, child protection, etc. And there are also national police organizations, such as Special Branch which works to prevent terrorism. In 2004 the government announced the creation of a new national organization, the Serious Organized Crime Agency.