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Philadelphia Police Department Research Paper

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The Philadelphia Police Department is known to be one of the oldest police departments, dating back to 1854 when it was officially established by state law. The Philadelphia Police Department was initially created to prevent crime and detain criminals. After William Penn received the land known today as the city of Philadelphia, he wanted to assure there would be order within his land and thus appointed a sheriff. Starting as early as 1700, a Philadelphia ‘night watch’ was established to keep a watch throughout the city in order to be aware of any criminal activity going on throughout the night. In the early 1800s due to advancement in both watchmen numbers and payment capabilities, the watch was officially a twenty-four hour watch with hundreds …show more content…

The Philadelphia Police Department faced many issues due to Prohibition, not only within the city of Philadelphia but also within the Police Department itself. During Prohibition, Police Officers were considered such a necessity that the Police Academy was shut down by the director of public safety in order to get more law enforcement out on the streets. Following the issues regarding Prohibition, corruption was common and members of the Police Department were held accountable for their actions. Just as corruption was common, as was a notable issue of racism between the citizens and officers. Many made known the fact that the Police Department was primarily a ‘white-male institution.’ Throughout the many problems the Philadelphia Police Department faced, it continually served to be the law enforcement of the city of Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Police Department today is the fourth largest police department in the nation. The Philadelphia Police Department has had over 7,100 sworn and civilian members. The Police Department is now divided into six regional divisions, each being subdivided into twenty-one patrol districts. The Philadelphia Police Department currently is broken up into many specialty divisions, which, together, handle the cases of over 1.5 million citizens of the city of

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