Police in Society: History and Organization
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U.S. police agencies origins to early England
Early England villages grouped people in
collectives of 10 called tithings
The leader was a tythingman, who would
send out the hue and cry
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Ten tythings were grouped to form a hundred
led by the hundredman (became a constable)
they would deal with serious breaches of law
Shires (similar to counties today) were
controlled by the shire reeve (today's sheriff)
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The watch system was organized in the 13th
century.
watchmen patrolled the village looking for
fire and other disturbances
watchmen reported to the constable, who
reported to the justice of the peace
watchmen were organized by the church
parish and patrolled the area the church
served
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By 1700 England still did not have a
organized system of law
When crime became rampant they would
bring the military out (called reading the riot
act)
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In the 1800’s crime rose, a private paid police
started called “thief takers”
Thief takers were very corrupt they would
give false testimony for money, steal,
intimidate and blackmail
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“thief takers” were in charge of housing
prisoners before trial
They charge prisoners high costs for their
food and lodging
Thief takers would use extreme violence and
were by far the most hated legal profiteers
anytime a criminal had the opportunity they
would try to kill a thief taker
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1826 Sir Robert Peel put through parliament
the “metropolitan Police Act”
This act established the first organized police
force in London
This force became known as bobbies, after Sir
Robert Peel
By 1856 all counties were required to have a
police force
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Sir Robert Peel had four philosophies
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Reduce tension between the public and police
Keep the peace, non-violence
Relieve the military of urban duties
Be judged by the absence of crime
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Colonial America: followed the British model
The county sheriff was law enforcement
The sheriff did not patrol, they would react to
citizens calls
They collected taxes, supervised elections,
and a great deal of other legal business along
with keeping the peace
They were paid by the arrests they made
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Cities had watchmen (called leatherheads
because of the leather helmets they wore)
In the west they would offer rewards for
people who were wanted for crimes, this
encouraged vigilantes to go out and try to
collect the rewards
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Boston established the first night watch
(1801)
Boston created the first U.S, police
department in 1838 (6 full time officers)
New York established the first modern police
force in 1844, with a day and night shift
under the supervision of a police chief
the new departments did many tasks, they
maintained public health and swept the
streets
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Three eras of American Policing
◦ Political (1840-1930)
◦ Reform (1930-1980)
◦ Community (1980-present)
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Political era
◦ Politicians hired and promoted the policemen so
they were tied directly to the politician that hired
them
◦ The early agencies were corrupt and brutal
◦ Police did the bidding of the politician
◦ The police patrolled on foot and had no way of
calling for back-up so they reacted to problems
with brute force
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Reform Era (Professional era)
◦ Main function was crime control
◦ centrally organized: one police chief controlling
many captains
◦ Training was a focus, also follow up investigation
◦ Motorized patrols
◦ Many technological advances
◦ Distrust by the community
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Reform Era
◦ August Vollmer
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Considered the father of modern police
Most famous police reformer
Police chief Berkley California
Instituted university training for officers
Developed the school of Criminology
Created professional police force
Created the first crime lab
Believed criminal suspects should not be mistreated
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Reform Era
◦ Wickersham Commission
 Appointed by president Hoover
 George Wickersham was commissioned to conduct a
study of crime and law enforcement
 Also investigated the effectiveness of prohibition and
its impact on organized crime
 They studied corruption in the police forces
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Community Era
◦ Main function was to control crime but did return to
social services
◦ Decentralized, created smaller units within the
police force like: swat, vice, narcotics
◦ Focuses on developing relationships between the
community they serve and the patrol officer
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Supreme court handed down several
decisions designed to control police
operations
◦ How to question suspects, conduct searches,
wiretaps
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Great national unrest, protests about the war,
and civil rights
◦ The police had been asked to control this with no
training or they were ill equipped
◦ Crime rates skyrocketed
◦ There were many bloody confrontations between
the police and the public
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The end of the Vietnam war put an end to
most of the protestors
Law Enforcement Assistance Administration
(LEAA) started funneling federal money into
police agencies
◦ this money was spent on training and research
 Gave officers the opportunity to further their education
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The concept of community policing emerged
◦ The integration of police into local communities to
form bonds with the people of those communities
◦ Officers no longer moved around, they would work
the same community
◦ The idea was to develop trust between the police
and the community the worked in
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Unions gained more power, this eroded the
power of the Police captain
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The era began with a horrible incident, in Los
Angeles two African Americans refused to
stop when signaled by the police, when they
finally did stop Rodney King was beaten
severely, the entire incident was captured on
video
The officer were acquitted of charges and 6
days of rioting was set off
The riots killed 54 injured 2,383 and 13,212
had been arrested
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The riots prompted an era of reform
Community policing took hold
Police training improved and new methods of
investigation had been implemented
Scientific breakthroughs helped (DNA
analysis)
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Today there are four broad categories:
Federal, State, County, and Local policing
agencies
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U.S. Department of Justice
◦ The legal arm of the federal government
◦ Headed by the Attorney General
◦ Enforce all federal law
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FBI
◦ Created in 1924 by J. Edgar Hoover,
◦ FBI is not a police agency but an investigation
agency
◦ FBI is limited to federal laws only
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FBI
◦ maintain the finger print data base
◦ National crime lab
◦ Maintain the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) totals the
number of crimes reported to all law enforcement,
tracks all arrests and officers killed or wounded in
the line of duty
◦ Maintains the National Crime Information Center
◦ 10 most wanted
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Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
(ATF) controls the sale of un-taxed liquor and
cigarettes and has jurisdiction over the illegal
sale, importation and criminal misuse of
firearms and explosives
U.S. Marshals: is the nations oldest federal
law enforcement agency: judicial security,
fugitive investigations, witness security,
prisoner services, Justice prisoner and alien
transportation, asset forfeiture program
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Department of Homeland Security
◦ Created after the 911 attacks with the mission of
preventing terrorist attacks within the U.S.
◦ Reduce the possibility of an attack and minimizing
the damages after an attack
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The Texas Rangers created in 1935, they
became the first state agency
Some state police only monitor the highways
others (like Rhode Island) are in-charge of
investigating all major crimes
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County sheriff: usually service rural areas too
spread out for a municipal police department
Their duties are everything from law
enforcement to tax collector
They are responsible for transporting
prisoners and protecting judges
They are most often elected and have
jurisdiction over a county
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This is the city and town police departments
Local police make up the majority of the
nations authorized law enforcement
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Becoming a huge multi billion dollar industry
that employs almost 2 million people
Private police work with the government to
protect valuable assets like: nuclear power
plants, Alaskan pipeline, NASA and other
facilities
It is even used in the armed forces to protect
dignitaries and critical assets
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Data mining uses computer programming to
determine behavior patterns and link them to
suspects
Crime mapping identifies crime hot spots
using computers they not only use
geographic data but also time this allows the
police to focus their forces
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Biometrics is an automated methods of
recognizing a person based on a
physiological or behavioral characteristic
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Fingerprints
Voice
Retina
Facial features
Handwriting
Many private industries are using this to restrict
entrance into secure areas
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DNA testing: allows suspects to be identified
on the basis of the genetic material found in
hair, blood, and other bodily fluids and tissue
Every state now have DNA data bases
1994 Timothy Spencer was executed in
Virginia on the basis of DNA evidence, he
was the first
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