Origins and Evolution of American Policing
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Origins and Evolution of American Policing “Police offi cers and police activities receive intense scrutiny by everyone.” Outline the origins of policing. 1 Summarize various eras of policing. 2 Outline the emergence of state and federal law 3 enforcement agencies. Source: © David R. Frazier Photolibrary, Inc./Alamy 1 BB_10191_ch01_ptg10_hr.4c.indd_10191_ch01_ptg10_hr.4c.indd 1 111/17/111/17/11 44:17:17 PPMM INTRO THE EMERGENCE OF EVIDENCE-BASED POLICING In 2011, Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of operations. Weisburd and Neyroud call upon police leaders Government, in conjunction with the National Institute of to correct the situation by stepping up their use of science, Justice, released an important new publication entitled and by familiarizing themselves with contemporary best “Police Science: Toward a New Paradigm.” 1 The publi- practices in law enforcement agencies around the country cations’ authors, George Mason University Professor and around the globe. It is essential, say the authors, to David Weisburd and Peter Neyroud, Chief Executive of determine what policing programs actually work, and to use the National Policing Improvement Agency in the United that knowledge to become wise decision-makers when ask- Kingdom, called for “a radical reformation of the role of ing for public moneys. science in policing.” Their purpose was to facilitate the “Police Science: Toward a New Paradigm,” is one of a start of a new era of evidence-based policing. As we shall series of articles in the Kennedy School’s New Perspectives see in numerous places throughout this book, evidence- in Policing series, and is available on the Web at http:// based policing, which refers to the use of high-quality justicestudies.com//policing/newparadigm.pdf . It was pub- social science research to guide police practice, is rapidly lished as part of the Kennedy School’s Executive Session becoming an important theme in twenty-first century law on Policing and Public Safety, which met from 2008 to enforcement, and may be the most important innovation 2010. An older series consisting of 17 articles, published in policing since Sir Robert Peel formed the world’s first between 1988 and 1993, comprise the original Perspectives modern-day police force. on Policing series, and are also available on the Web. You “Advance of science in policing is essential,” the Kennedy can access them at http://tinyurl.com/6b8faze . School authors wrote, “if police are to retain public support As you read through this text, you will learn more about and legitimacy.” Unfortunately, however, the authors point evidence-based policing (see a more formal definition of out that “evidence-based policing is [still] not the rule” the term later in this chapter) and about its relevance to today, and that “science is [still] not an essential part of policing in the twenty-first century. A good introduction to the [today’s] police world.” Worse, say Weisburd and Neyround, applicability of the modern social sciences to policing and today’s police leaders have failed to to the field of criminal justice in general take ownership of police science, DISCUSS Why do the authors can be found in National Institute of allowing outside institutions to dictate featured here say that Justice Director John Laub’s Web-based the nature of policing studies, and to video presentation entitled “Embracing produce findings that may not even the “advance of science in A Culture of Science,” at http://nij. be relevant to day-to-day enforcement policing is essential”? ncjrs.gov/multimedia/video-laub1.htm . ▶ The Origins of Policing For students of policing, an appreciation of history is essential in order to understand the contemporary structure of law The American system of policing enforcement in the United States today. As a result of histori- is nearly unique in the world. cal circumstances, the American system of policing is nearly unique in the world. Most countries today rely on one or only more thoroughly, is federal–local law enforcement partner- a few agencies for law enforcement. In the United States, how- ships, which some see as especially important in the fight ever, there are thousands of law enforcement agencies with against terrorism. Critics of such efforts suggest that we hundreds of thousands of employees. No other country has a are inching toward a national police force, a notion that, policing system that looks quite like ours. to the minds of many, is antithetical to our nation’s system The study of policing history is important for another rea- of government. son: For better or for worse, history often repeats itself. History History can repeat itself for the better when we revisit repeats itself for worse when policy makers make decisions in the successful strategies of the past. The decentralization that a vacuum, without regard for those who have faced the same served policing early on in our nation’s history, for example, is problems before. In other words, the failure to appreciate what now part and parcel of recent reforms in policing around the was once tried without success leads to a costly repetition of country. past mistakes. Some critics of recent changes in American policing, such as the shift toward community policing, for example, argue that what we are now doing signals a return to From Private to Public Policing days of old, which may not be desirable. One of the earliest known methods of policing, called kin policing , Alternatively, a technique or program that looks totally involved families, clans, and tribes enforcing informal rules and innovative and desirable today may have been purposefully customs. Each member of the group was given authority to avoided in the past. An example, which we will later cover enforce the established rules, and individuals who deviated from 2 Chapter 1 Origins and Evolution of American Policing BB_10191_ch01_ptg10_hr.4c.indd_10191_ch01_ptg10_hr.4c.indd 2 111/17/111/17/11 44:17:17 PPMM community norms were often In England, the Second Statute of Westminster (1285)7 4 8 LEARNING Outline the origins of dealt with harshly. This method required that each parish appoint two constables. Their duties OUTCOMES policing. of policing changed during the were to inspect the arms of the parish and to assist the sher- 1 rise of the Greek city-states and iff with law enforcement. Men over the age of 15 formed the the Roman Empire, and law posse comitatus , which assisted with the pursuit and capture of GLOSSARY enforcement evolved from what dangerous criminals. Magistrates, who eventually came to be frankpledge system The ultimate was essentially a private affair to known as justices of the peace , began to be appointed by the king outgrowth of the night watch sys- a public one. or the sheriff around the thirteenth century. They had primary tem of social control, dating to the Greece and Rome began to responsibility for adjudicating crimes, not unlike modern-day twelfth century, in which ten house- use appointed magistrates to judges. In England, from which we derive many of our tradi- holds were grouped into a tithing, enforce the law. These unpaid tions, this was the predominant model of law enforcement until and each adult male member of individuals were largely respon- the nineteenth century. the tithing was held responsible for sible for law enforcement until What set early approaches to policing apart from modern the conduct of the others. about the third century BCE policing practices is that most of the officials charged with tithing Under the frank- in Rome and the sixth century enforcing laws were volunteers. If paid, they were not salaried pledge system, a group of ten BCE in Greece. The first paid as police officers are today. Sheriffs, for example, were allowed households. law enforcement official was the to appropriate a portion of the money collected in the king’s 9 parish Under the frankpledge praefectus urbi , a position cre- name. Even though these developments signaled a shift from system, a group of ten tithings. ated in Rome about 27 BCE.5 private to public policing, much of the job of enforcing the law Also referred to as a hundred . By 6 CE, Rome had a large remained largely private; there simply were not enough public force of these individuals who officials to do the job. As the years passed, though, policing shire Under the frankpledge system, a collection of several patrolled the streets day and took ever greater steps in the direction of becoming a govern- parishes. night. Once the Roman Empire mental function. fell, though, law enforcement One of the most significant steps toward fully public polic- sheriff The modern-day term became the responsibility of the ing occurred in 1735, when two London parishes were given for the Old English shire-reeve . individual monarchies through- authority to pay their watchmen out of tax collections. 10 Then, In the United States today, the out Europe. toward the middle of the eighteenth century, John and Henry senior law enforcement official in Fielding a county. Kings used military forces , two Bow Street magistrates, started to pay men to for law enforcement, but they serve as constables and patrol the streets at night.11 These Bow shire-reeve The Old English term also relied on so-called night Street Runners , or thief takers , patrolled the city on foot and for sheriff . Literally, “the keeper of watches, or groups of citizens the surrounding areas on horseback. They also performed the shire.” who roamed the streets looking investigations, and for that reason they have been described as watchman An early officer on for signs of trouble. Members the first known detective unit.12 foot patrol who, during the hours of the night watch were given In 1800, the Thames River Police were paid by public mon- of darkness, watched for fires and the authority to investigate eys.