Historical Development of Police Agencies Essay

Gaines, L. K., & Kappeler, V. E. (2014). Policing in america (8th ed.). (S. Decker-Lucke, Ed.) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America: Anderson Publishing. Retrieved January 2017

During the Political Era the police departments were typically established and controlled by local government agencies. The Police being ran by the Local Government means that the State and Federal government did not interfere too much. Only well established families or local political groups would get the local elected positions. Police also did a lot

It was a safe haven for bandits and outlaws, it was so large and unknown, making in near impossible to enforce the laws of the land. Taking the law into one’s own hands or vigilantism was common for those trying to take advantage of the spread out hand of the law throughout the United States. In America’s larger cities law enforcement came about earlier. In 1658, paid watchmen were hired by the city of New York. The city of New York constructed the first neighborhood station in 1731. Many American communities followed their lead. New York’s Law enforcement was separated into night and day forces, hired to be like the “Bobbies”, they were combined into the New York Police Department. The first woman police officer came from the Los Angela’s Police Department in 1910; her name was Alice Stebbins Wells. By 1915 a U.S. census showed that there were 25 cities that employed police officers of the female gender. The Postal Act of 1829 made the FBI a national investigation service. Before that is was the Bureau of Investigation, where President Teddy Roosevelt promoted the use of the call-box system of telephones. It allowed citizens to report crimes and made it possible for officers to quickly call for assistance. A dark day and age for not only the American people but also the American Law Enforcement agency began in the 1920’s when there was a constitutional prohibition against the selling,

Policing has been a part of America for many decades. In fact, policing was known to exist prior to 1066, the year of the Normandy Invasion of Britain. Throughout the years policing has been a complicated and ongoing progress. The people of England did not have a stabilized policing standard and were often responsible for protecting and serving themselves. As early as the 1600s the Colonial America introduced the English styles of policing; citizens were responsible for monitoring community members’ behavior. Early constables and sheriffs were with the increased rate of crime and developed a ‘sort’ in community policing known as “watch and ward.” Later throughout history in the early 1700s policing became an

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.

Early American policing strategies were based on the British model. Law enforcement was not organized until 1200 A.D. offenders were pursued by an organized posse. If offenders were caught they

After the civil war, local politicians rewarded their supporters with jobs as police officers. The officer were not trained and there was not a standard to become an officer. The are were event when entire departments were involved in misconduct and corruption. There was not much hope in this era because there was a lack of supervision that allowed officers to behave the way that they pleased. (Walker, Samuel, and Richards, M. 1996)

From the night watch in Boston, to the present day policing, law enforcement has behind in the world of technology. As time rolled through the political era, professional era, and community-oriented era, police patrols would use the rapidly advancing technology in their favor. "Those were desperate times for policemen in a hostile country with unpaved streets and uneven sidewalks, sometimes miles from the police station, with little prospects of assistance in case of need.... It took nerve to be a policeman in those days," this was reported by Chief Francis O 'Neill of the Chicago Police Department in 1903. With only having a printing press and a multiple-shot revolver over a hundred years ago, the advancement in technology today has helped improve the policing methods in patrol quite significantly. However, technology would eventually out-run the police.

Early policing in Colonial America had its beginnings in England. Police departments in America started to follow the trend. Actually, they were not police departments as we know them today. Policing in colonial America began as a night watch program of volunteers in the early 1600’s in the northern colonies, specifically in Boston. Early policing was not the same throughout the colonies. Southern colonies developed their own system of policing based on the needs of the community using watch groups and organized groups of white men known as slave patrols. The policing systems changed as the colonies grew in population, more small businesses, the development of large industries and more funding became available. “War and then revolution strained the Boston watch system…the French and Indian war 1756-1763…” (Wadman &Allison2004,p.10). The watch system in all of the colonies had similarities and differences, however none were very successful in reducing crime. New York, Boston, Charleston, Virginia, and Tennessee all suffered immense problems with their crime rate using the watch system. This was the first form of policing in colonial

First, between 1890 and 1930, the management of the police force was centralized. Virtually every decision had to go to the top for approval, with the goal of limiting the low-level officer’s exposure to temptation. To reinforce the hierarchy, specialized units were created to deal with such problems as drugs, youth, guns, and gangs. As Bratton described it, [The department] was divided into little fiefdoms, and some bureau chiefs didn’t even talk to each other…. Each bureau was like a silo: Information entered at the bottom and had to be delivered up the chain of command from one level to another until it reached the chief’s office.

The four eras of policing are political era, reform era, community era, and homeland security era. The political era was between 1840s and 1919 where police agencies were underdeveloped, decentralized, and disorganized in their mission, role, and function. Police organizations nationwide were exposed for their inability to maintain order, to control crime, or to fairly provide appropriate services. The reform era occurred between 1920s and 1970s where police was removed from the political arena and established them more as members of a centralized, professional organization formed for the public good. The primary role of police in this era had contributed to the problems crating negative police-community relations. The community era was between

Police Agencies in modern society are a part of the American fabric to serve and protect the American public. The United States currently have more than 15,000 police agencies, (Walker & Katz, 2011). Police Departments across the United States face similar critical issues policing. All police officers face dangers in the job of policing the dangers can emanate from internal and external origins. Police officers have continued to evolve to serve communities by finding better less than lethal alternatives to weapons used. In addition, police departments have continued to keep up with

     Law enforcement is divided into three major eras throughout history. These eras are the political era, the reform era and the community era. The political era that took place between 1840-1930 was characterized by five points, which was the authority was coming from politicians and the law, a broad social service function, decentralized organization, an intimate relationship with the

During this era citizens felt safer and had a better relationship with the police but as time went on and technology got better the relationship that was developed between police officers and citizens changed dramatically. By the mid-1900s new technology had a significant influence on policing, two-way radio, patrol cars and the telephones, revolutionized policing. “Police: History-Policing Twentieth Century America^ C” the Reform Era( n.d.)

The dictionary definition of the police is “the organized civil force of a state, concerned with maintenance of law and order, the detection and prevention of crime, etc,” (Collins English Dictionary, 2002). This definition states the minimum of what the police actually do. Providing support for families, protecting society from criminals and responding to calls 24 hours a day 7 days a week are just some of the other roles that police have to deal with. In this essay the evolution of the police will be discussed as well as how the police are facing challenges.