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Peel's Principles and Their Acceptance by American Police: Ending 175 Years of Reinvention

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Peel's Principles and Their Acceptance by American Police: Ending 175 Years of Reinvention KEITH L. WILLIAMS Inspector in the Metropolitan Police Department PEEL'S PRINCIPLES AND THEIR ACCEPTANCE BY AMERICAN POLICE: ENDING 175 YEARS OF REINVENTION Since the inceptionof modem policing in 1829, the policing styles of Britain and the United States have run incongruent courses. While the Metropolitan Police Department of London has stayed true to the principlesfirst articulatedby Sir Robert Peel, American policing has undergone several sweeping changes in the admin­ istration of service. These reinventions have hampered the establishment of a true ideology of police service in America. Through a comparative historical overview of these polic­ ing models, this article will strive to explain the reason behind the lack of acceptance of Peel's original nine principles by police in America. Further discussion will focus on the current acceptance of these principles by many police agencies within the United States in their community policing missions and ask what might have been had the Peelian virtues been accepted from the beginning. Introduction In 1829, after much debate, the London Metropolitan Police Act officially sanctioned a new arm of government. This entity was an innovative approach to social control in that it provided for a full-time presence of uniformed personnel in communities estab­ lished to prevent crime and disorder. I Many would agree that this was the dawning of the creation of the modern police and Sir Robert Peel was credited with its conception. America, during the same period, was faced with some of the same issues as London was but was somewhat slower to react with police presence. However, the first agencies were estab­ lished in the 1830s. There is no debate that the forces of London and the United States were similar in some respects and dramat­ ically different in others; this article will hopefully generate discussion about what could have been if Peel's principles were accepted in toto and applied to the police in America at the time of their inception. This article will attempt to discern the reasons behind the United States' failure, or refusal, to accept, in whole, the Peelian principles. The Police Journal, Volume 76 (2003) 97 The first section of this writing will be an historic overview of the establishment of Peel's police, the principles on which they were derived and the effect that their formation had on society. Second, an historical view of the police in the United States will be presented for comparative purposes. During the course of this article several questions will be addressed. Did the fact that obstacles and differences arose in the formulation of American police create the environment where the United States failed, or refused, to accept the Peelian virtues? What could have been, then, had they been accepted? Would there have been a need for a Reform Era? Would the Pro­ fessional Era then be an even more dramatic removal from the original concept of policing? Have we, in the United States, gone back to a Peelian-like version of policing with community policing objectives? If we hadn't lost those 175 years, what sort of evolution could have occurred in policing? Finally, can we, as Americans, even accept the Peelian Principles, given our dis­ jointed array of police agencies and mandates? History In 1829, after almost 50 years of debate following the Gordon Riots in 1780, Parliament passed the London Metropolitan Police Act. The passing of this act, formulated by Sir Robert Peel, established a full-time, uniformed police force for the city of London.' This force was created for the purpose of prevention of crime, which was a dramatic departure from the private thief­ takers and constable-watch systems that preceded this era. The police were also purposefully structured to be different from the military in their objectives and use of force. The social forces at work in the late 1700s and early 1800s in England included a high rate of population growth in the cities, particularly in London, as industrialisation flourished. Because of this sudden growth, there was a breakdown in social control, characterised by disorder, crime, riots and public health issues. These problems, along with the influx of people to the cities, caused concern to the ruling and middle classes, who realised the system of constable-watch could not handle the problems effec­ tively.' An alternative solution to dealing with these societal problems needed to be identified and constructed in order to provide protection and safety. One alternative that was attempted was to utilise the military or militia to quell the riots. Unfortunately, it was not the military's objective to provide this sort of protection and they were too forceful in their handling of many of the protests. 98 The Police Journal, Volume 76 (2003) Increasing the number of constables was also attempted, but was only a temporary solution to a long-term problem." What finally arose was a government-funded, quasi-military and continuous structure of patrolling the neighbourhoods with the focus on preventing crime and disorder. The establishment of the police in London was not without its detractors and it took the work of some of the brightest minds, plus the increased fear of a flourishing criminal element, to establish the need within England. Jeremy Bentham, Henry and John Fielding and others advocated the creation of this organisation for the purposes of preventing crime.' It took the work of Peel, Britain's Home Secretary, to bring these thoughts and philosophies into a legal framework to convince Parliament of the desperate need for this new arm of the government. The very fact that Britain needed to be convinced, even in the face of rising crime, shows how much careful consideration must have been put into the mandate of the police at this time. Legislators and citizens were worried that the establishment of a 'standing army' of uniformed police would produce a means for the government to have a potential despot-like control over the citizenry." Government officials themselves were concerned by the twin fears of 'governmental expense and power'.7 The sanctioning of the Home Office surely led to the success of the establishment of the police in London. As an agency of the national government there was an ability to set high personnel standards and control the work of the members of the force. The insulation of the commissioners who led the force from the people it actually policed resulted in some early resistance, but eventually this gave way to a legacy of professionalism and civility.f The police had established an impersonal authority derived not from the local communities standards, but from legal powers and restraints." This impersonal authority was analogous to the formal institutional power that was granted to the police by the national government, in particular the Home Office. The formality of the position led to high levels of discipline and conduct by the officers. One quote from the time likened the London police officer to an 'institution rather than a man';" Several other factors also played a role in determining the early course of action for the police. Peel recruited his officers from outside the City to prevent any form of corruption from taking hold. The force was assigned specific areas of patrol or beats to ensure continuity. Further, structure was borrowed from the military to provide a hierarchical chain of command for The Police Journal, Volume 76 (2003) 99 coordination and control.II What led to the success of the police chiefly were the nine principles that Peel established as the guiding force for the members of the organisation. This philo­ sophical underpinning meant that there was a clear mission in mind for the police and reduced the ambiguity in the role that the police would play in society. Peel's thinking surrounding the formation of the Metropoli­ tan Police was reduced to the following nine principles: (l) the basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder; (2) the ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions; (3) police must secure the willing cooperation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public; (4) the degree of cooperation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionally to the necessity of the use of physical force; (5) police seek and preserve public favour not by catering to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law; (6) police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient; (7) police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence; (8) police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary; (9) the test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it. With these principles, Peel laid the framework for one of the most important creations in law enforcement history. More than 175 years later, the guiding principles formulated in 1829 are still at the forefront of many police agencies' mission statements worldwide, as will be illustrated later. 100 The Police Journal, Volume 76 (2003) American leaders knew a good thing when they saw it and, when faced with similar elements of social disorder, 'borrowed' some of the fundamental tenets of the London police.
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