Compare And Contrast The Four Eras Of Policing

Policing dates back thousands of years to even before the Roman times. The origins of American policing are closely related the Anglo-Saxon model which gave a more communal responsibility. The four Eras’ of American policing that will be focused on are The Political, Professional, Community Policing, and Homeland Security.

Over the years, the nature of policing has changed and developed drastically. Their role not only entails crime fighting and emergency response, but also social enforcement and social peacekeeping. Bound by a code of ethics, this highly demanding role asks police to remain professional in their dealings with society, and ensure they uphold the law impartially and fairly. When it comes to enforcing the law, it is important to look at the methods and approaches taken by police in order to combat crime, and whether or not they meet current ethical standards. Although this may be the case, it is also important to acknowledge that aspects of police culture such as loyalty, deception and protection of colleagues will ultimately shape the nature of approach to resolving crime, gaining helpful information and protecting fellow officers. Police officers are granted large amounts of discretion within their roles, however, when officers deliberately abuse this amount of discretion and become display misconduct, it becomes challenging to limit discretionary authority of police officers because of the frequent circumstances they encounter where deception may provide highly constructive outcomes. Throughout this essay, methods used by police officers including entrapment, wiretapping and planting of evidence will be assessed for their strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, the ethical standards of these methods and approaches will be assessed as to whether or not they prove as ethically

This essay will introduce two competing perspectives of policing, they are the orthodox and revisionist perspectives. This essay will then relate the orthodox and revisionist perspectives to the themes of lack of structure, industrialisation and finally hostility. It will then discuss whether the creation of the Metropolitan Police by Sir Robert Peel in 1829 was an effective solution to the changes within society as well as the challenges brought about through crime and disorder. The orthodox view is that the Metropolitan Police were, in fact, a rational decision made to adapt to the needs of the society. They argue that the establishment of the ‘new’ police was inevitable. The revisionist view would state that the ‘new’ police were not a rational decision. They believed that crime and disorder were not increasing, it was just that the ways of counting crime were largely different to previously. The revisionists also believe that the new system was in part beneficial for which to tackle issues that may have occasioned due to the new ‘dangerous class’ (Monkkonen, 1981, p147). In this essay, there will be reference made to the Brixton Riots in 1981 with a clear explanation as to how the orthodox and revisionist perspectives relate to modern policing activities.

For over a century police departments in the United States and across the world have been following Sir Robert Peel's twelve principals of policing. Almost nothing or very little has changed since these principals were first implemented in England's "Scotland Yard". Many of these principals are behind today's investigating and policing practices.

While the Reform Era worked to professionalize police, as society became more complex, so did the role of the police officer. The Community Policing Era was developed as a result of the need to develop cooperation and positive relationships between the police and public. What developed out of this era was an essential element of community policing – public accountability. Police officers became accountable to their supervisors who in turn became accountable to the community. Accountability can be seen as an honest evaluation of achievement based on clearly defined objectives. Many of these objectives are defined by complex community and social problems; as such police officers require the capacity and flexibility to work on them in a variety of styles and employing a variety of strategies.

Policing today consists of three eras. These three eras have adapted and built off one another through history (Parr, 2014). The first era started around 1840 to 1930, and is known as the Political Era. The second Era is known as the Reform Era and lasted from 1930 to 1970. The last era is called the Community-Problem Solving Era and is still being adapted and used today. The Political Era emphasizes on meeting the needs of politicians. The police were given power through the local government and the community had very little say in what happened. The police and politicians worked together to control the city and neighborhoods (Palmiotto, 2000). This was often referred to as a ward. The ward politician controlled all the police in their neighborhood. The police officers tasks included not only crime prevention and order but a lot of social service activities that involved their neighborhoods. The officers resembled the ethnic backgrounds of the neighborhoods they lived and worked in and performed their patrols gaining trust from their community (Palmiotto, 2000). This allowed positive integration of police officers leading to more public service, and the trust of the officers to stop crime when is starts.

The role of police officers is very significant to American history. Police work toward protecting citizens’ rights and helping America become the land of the free. The United States of America is built from the U.S. Constitution Bill of Rights and police play a major role in making sure American rights are met. Evolution has changed many of American history for the better; policing is part of those changes. As new issues in society arise, police must change and adapt to protect and serve the public.

The origins of policing in America can be traced back to its colonial years of the early 1600s. Unlike the formal police forces we have today, policing took different forms during its early years. In the Northern states, policing consisted of volunteers that warned their communities of any upcoming threat or danger. Although this mode of policing was not effective in controlling crime, it continued until the 1830s, at which the city of Boston was the first to establish a police force. By the 1880s, all major cities, such as Chicago, New York City, and Philadelphia, had established municipal police forces. More interesting and controversial, the development of policing in the Southern states was shaped by slavery and the control of minorities.

Policing is a very difficult, complex and dynamic field of endeavor that is always evolves as hard lessons teach us what we need to know about what works and what don’t work. There are three different Era’s in America’s policing: The Political Era, The Reform Era, and The Community Problem Solving Era. A lot has changed in the way that policing works over the years in the United States.

Starting In 1829, Sir Robert Peel began developing his theory of policing. These nine principles are as relevant today as they were in the 1800's. Peel established the Metropolitan Police when he served as Home Secretary of England. Since Sir Robert Peel introduced his principles of policing in the early 1800's, our country has continued to follow his ideas of effective policing. Community policing is based on Peel's concept of prevention.

In the Merriam-Webster Dictionary it describes the law as a word to mean “a biding custom or practice of a community.” (“Law,”2015) However, the modern era of policing can trace its roots back to 400 years ago. The developments of the structure of law that would become the system can be traced back to ancient politics. Some important concepts are derived from the practice between Greek city states, and the Roman law concept “ius gentium as being the law observed by all mankind is followed by all peoples alike.” (Gregg, 2015, para.1)

Many people know of the police officers of today’s world and that it is their job to enforce the laws set by their government, but not many people know the history of your typical everyday United States police officer or how they came about. The idea for neither your everyday police officer nor his or her department they work for or how a police department operates, originated in the United States. Over the years though America has made changes and adapted its system over the years to make it more suitable for its countries beliefs and practices.

This research paper is based on reviewing the actual and changes in police policies throughout the USA. In the United States, law enforcement system is considered as the most critical component of criminal justice system that includes corrections and courts. It mainly operates through governmental police agencies to investigate the suspect. In the fourth amendment, it is listed that law enforcement officers can arrest any person based on suspicion of having a criminal activity or have to commit a crime (Tyler, Fagan & Geller, 2014).

The renowned Sir Robert Peel who helped found the London Metropolitan Police unit that was meant to be closer to the people than any other time before. His vision was to have a community where ""¦the police are the public and the public are the police"¦" (Braiden, 1992). His vision was to have a community where the idea of policing is closely interlaced between the formal police force and the community participation in the control and termination of crimes in the entire England.

Reformers rejected politics as the basis of police legitimacy. Reformers believed political involvement and corruption was ‘the’ problem with American policing. They moved to end the close ties between local political leaders and the police. Civil service positions eliminated the loyalty for jobs and political influences in hiring and firing of police officers. Law and police professionalism was established as the principal basis of police legitimacy. Reformers were so persuasive in their removal of political influences, police departments became one of the most autonomous public organizations in the government. (Goldstein) Policing of a city became a legal and technical matter. It was left to the discretion of