Larry J. Siegel
www.cengage.com/cj/siegel
Chapter 4
Police in Society: History and Organization
Joe Morris • Northwestern State University
Cherly Gary • North Central Texas College
Lisa Ann Zilney • Montclair State
Learning Objectives
• Describe how law enforcement developed in feudal England.
• Know what the first police agencies were like.
• Discuss the development of law enforcement in the United
States.
• Analyze the problems of early police agencies.
• Discuss how reformers attempted to create professional
police agencies.
• Describe the major changes in law enforcement between
1970 and today.
• Be familiar with the major federal law enforcement agencies.
• Know the differences between state, county, and local law
enforcement.
• Describe how technology is changing police work.
• Discuss the future of police technology and be familiar with
the direction it is taking.
The History of Police
• Pledge system - families banded together for
protection
• Watch system - employed watchmen to protect
against robberies, fires, and disturbances
Private Police and Thief Takers
• Private police (thief takers) profited due to lack of
formal police
• In 1829 Sir Robert Peel, London Metropolitan Police
Act (MPA) created the first organized police force of
over 1,000 men
Law Enforcement in Colonial America
• County Sheriff - collecting taxes, supervising
elections, and performing other matters of business
• Involved reacting to citizens’ complaints and
investigating crimes
• Pay on a fee system linked to effectiveness
Early Police Agencies
•
•
•
•
Boston created first U.S. police dept. in 1838
Many early agencies were corrupt
Involved patrol on foot
Major responsibility was maintaining order
The Emergence of Professionalism
• 1893 International Association of Chiefs of Police
(IACP) - called for a civil service police force
• August Vollmer most famous police reformer instituted university training for young officers and
argued for merit recruitment
The 1960s and Beyond
•
•
•
•
Turmoil and crisis in the 1960s
Supreme Court decisions impacted police
Rapidly growing crime rate in the 1960s
1970s there were structural changes in police
departments, increased federal support, LEAA,
and the recruitment of women and minorities
The 1960s and Beyond
• 1980s - emergence of community policing, unions
fought for increase in salaries, state and local
budgets were cut
• 1990s - Rodney King case
Federal Law Enforcement Agencies
• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
• Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and
Explosives (ATF)
• U.S. Marshals Service
• Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
• Secret Service
State Law Enforcement Agencies
• Created to deal with crime in nonurban areas
• Jurisdiction ranges from primary responsibility to
enforce traffic laws to general police powers to
specialized tasks
• Provide a wide range of support to other agencies
County Law Enforcement Agencies
• Sheriff’s role evolved from early English shire reeve
• Provide routine patrol, respond to citizen calls and
investigate crimes
• Duties vary according to size and degree of
development in the county
Metropolitan Law Enforcement Agencies
• Range in size from agencies with 40,000 officers to
departments with only 1 part-time officer
• Vast majority of police work is done at local level
• Most provide a wide variety of services and functions
Private Policing
• Private security has become a multimillion-dollar
industry
• 10,000 firms and 1.5 million employees
Technology and Law Enforcement
•
•
•
•
•
•
Crime Mapping
License Plate Recognition Technology
Digitizing Criminal Identification
Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems
Digital Dental Records
DNA Testing
Crime Mapping Example: Violent Crime
in Providence, Rhode Island
Future Technology
•
•
•
•
Genetic algorithms
Discretionless policing
Augmented reality
Automated Biometric Identification System