Police Enforcement And The Law Enforcement

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.

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

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.

Police in America began as the night watch system that protected cities from crime, fire, and disorder. Of course early policing was influenced by the British, and so was American Law which derived from English common law. This would also form a correlation to American policing policies that diverged from the English’s Magna Carta and as well the French. The French established a centralized government that entailed men to take an oath of loyalty. The police in America started as night watch groups, then employment changed to police officers being political appointed which was very corrupted, but throughout the years things changed again to serve the public. Instead of a political selected police force that earns it’s pay through bribes and

There is a significant health issue facing the public as well as law enforcement every day, suicide. The numbers surrounding suicide are shocking effects people of all backgrounds. In the year 2010 more than 38,000 adults committed suicide. Then in 2011 around 1 million adults admitted to attempting suicide, while 8 million had serious suicidal thoughts. Law Enforcement officers are at an even higher risk then most due to experiencing such a large number of risk factors. These factors include but are not limited to poor physical health, access to fire arms, domestic abuse, substance abuse, exposure to violence and suicide; depression, anxiety and other mental diseases. These factors lead to an above average number of officer suicides every

Before 1845, the force was simply too small for the large metropolis. The Municipal Police Act, signed into law in 1845, set up a larger department, based on London’s department. It laid the foundation for the modern New York Police Department.

Law enforcement continued to develop as cities and towns relied on bailiffs, or “watchmen.” Bailiffs maintained a night watch to detect fires and spot thieves. However, the bailiffs were still too few in numbers to handle most emergencies, but they could wake up a sleeping population to assist. Larger cities continued to expand night watch into day wards. Finally, in 1285 the Statute of Winchester codified British practices. The statute officially created the watch and wards, mandated the draft of eligible men to serve, criminalized citizens disregarding another citizen’s outcry, and required citizens to maintain weapons in their homes.

Police officers have been a part of history for a long time, the earliest time is recorded back to the sixteen hundreds. When the first Europeans came over to the United States, they felt that it was necessary to protect themselves and their people from the inhabitants that were already here and had no interest in sharing their land with them. Any man and young boy that was physically able to protect their people was required to do so. There

In April of 1635, the City of Boston established the first system of law enforcement in the 13 colonies. They were called the “Night Watch”, the officers worked part-time with no pay. It was until 1712 when the City of Boston hired its first paid full time law enforcement officer in the 13 colonies. On September 24, 1789 “the United States Congress created the first Federal law enforcement officer, the United

The history of policing dates back several thousand years ago when there was no order or peace and inhumane acts upon citizens was the norm with religious, political, or military police acting as the law. Policing was unstable and unorganized. Citizens took the law into their own hands and served as judge, jury, and executioner. There was not such a thing as being “innocent until proven guilty.” If the community believed an individual was guilty of a crime then the community would handle the offense themselves. American policing stems from the English heritage; crime prevention and control, preventive

The police system was created as a way to control the working class and black communities. Some form of order started in the South during the time of slavery. Slave patrols were made of poor whites and they were given the ability to punish slaves anyway they seem fit. Slave patrolling continued the racist ideas that allowed white people to oppress black people. Another form of a police system in the South were the Texas Rangers. Texas Rangers specifically targeted Native American, Latino and Black groups in the South.

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

Since the founding of this country, to the wild west, and up to the present, the agenda of the policing bodies have been clear: to uphold and enforce the laws of our society. Of course the way they do this today had undergone changes from the first police forces of early America, law enforcement has seen trends come and go.

The evolution of American Policing is perhaps one of the most interesting topics to study pertaining to our American government. The police system that we currently use today has evolved tremendously since it first was established in 1626 while the United States was still under British control. However, some forms of American policing began a few years before 1626. When the colonists first became settled down in America, they realized they needed to keep order through out their towns. That is when the colonists formed the very first Justice Of Peace. It was fairly similar to the Bristish government that was in place during the time period because most of the new American inhabitants came from Great Britain or had British roots. The Justice

The main philosophical tenant that influenced the evolution of law enforcement in America is efficiency. Policing started out as ineffective Night Watches during the colonial period. Men volunteered or were drafted stay up all night announcing weather and looking out for anything suspicious. Working a whole day job, and then staying up at night made life hard though, so people stopped volunteering, they avoided cities attempts to force them into the watch by paying fines. Even paying watchmen didn’t raise participation, as the pay wasn’t worth the terrible conditions. Cities started establishing police departments to take over for the watch, but officers at the time dealt with all problems that anyone had. Weather damage, orphan children, hospital