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Era Of Policing Pros And Cons

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The first era of law enforcement was the political era, which started in 1840 and ended in 1930. Evolution of Policing in the US-Influence of the Political Era reports that, “During this era, police performed much more comprehensive services, such as running soup kitchens, finding shelter for the homeless and helping immigrants find jobs, in addition to dealing with criminal activity. They were closely integrated within their communities and for those within the political sphere of the elected leaders within the community; the friendly image of the Irish beat cop emerges”(2013). Since it was the first era of policing there was a lot of pros and cons, compare to the era we are in now.
Scott from Police–community relations claims that, “police …show more content…

For example in the Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice Engel states, “There was little or no training given to officers, no recruitment standards to speak of, and no job security because officers could be hired or fired at will”(Engel, 2002). This was a really weakness in the community of Police officers because with no training given to officers there was no limit to what they can do. Also without the proper training the police officer would not know the law in order to apprehend a suspect. Engel also mention that, “Patrol officers often accepted bribes to not enforce laws controlling moral crimes (e.g., drinking, gambling, and prostitution). This type of corruption was well known and pervasive”(Engel, 2002). This type of corruption gave a bad reputation to officers because some community did not trust the police. Some community would rather take care of a problem them selves rather then calling the police. According to In Criminal justice in America by Cole and Smith states, “In many cities, the police seemed to work for the mayor’s political party rather than for the citizens”(Cole, Page 112). This shows that a police officer in the political era rarely interact with the

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