Preview

English Heritage in Policing

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
945 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
English Heritage in Policing
Ivon Martinez
What is our English Heritage in policing? Paper
CJA/214 Intro to Police Theory & Practices
Rudy Pichardo
November 30, 2011

The American system of law and criminal justice was borrowed from the English. The first references to an English criminal justice or law enforcement system appeared some 1,000 years earlier than Sir Robert Peel established the first English police department in 1829. England’s King Alfred the Great was preparing his Kingdom for a Danish invasion; his strategy against the Danes was maintaining stability in his own country and providing a method for people living in villages to protect one another (Dempsey & Forst, 2010, p 4-9). King Alfred established a system of mutual pledge a form of society control where citizens grouped together to protect each other. People were supposed to police their own communities. The constable were the first form of English Police Officer, was responsible for dealing with more serious of the law (Dempsey & Forst, 2010, p 4-9). In the early English Sheriff were known as Shire-reeve which were English official place in charge of shires (countries) as part of the system of mutual pledge. In 1285 C.E. the Statue of Winchester was enacted in England and established a rudimentary criminal justice system in which most of the responsibility for law enforcement remained with the people themselves (Dempsey & Forst, 2010, p 4-9). The statue formally established (1): the watch and ward, (2): the hue and cry, (3): the parish constable, and (4): the requirement that all males keep weapons in their home for use in maintaining the public peace. The watch and ward required all men in a given town to serve on the night watch. The watch can be seen as the most rudimentary form of metropolitan policing (Dempsey & Forst, 2010, p 4-9). The watch was designed to protect against crime, disturbances, and fire. The watchmen had three major duties: one, patrolling the streets from dusk

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

     Colonial America  Year 1630 Colonist implementing English styles of law enforcement.  Timeline of the historical development of police agencies and jurisdiction.    Year 1840 Crime prevention instead of detection, U.S. Marshals enforced the law, citizens, and bounty hunters were officers of the law through out the land and Indian terrain.…

    • 580 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There were several different forms of early policing with kin policing and nightwatch being two of the earliest styles. Kin policing was a style of enforcement where family members or tribes enforced the informal and customary rules of the group. Punishments meted out from this type of policing were brutal and tended to fall into the category of “an eye for an eye”. Nightwatch was a collection of citizens who patrolled at night monitoring the city for fires and other problems, eventually progressing into constable-nightwatch system of policing with the addition of sheriffs and constables. Not only was early policing voluntary, it was an unpopular venture and those who could afford it typically paid others to work in their place. Early…

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The history of the police agencies can be trace back to the 1630s, during this time the earliest colonists use the English style of policing. The civic duty for all citizens was “watch and ward” this offered no training or pay, it was the responsibility of the citizens to monitor the behavior of community members. Policing relied heavily on community consensus and the willingness of citizens to assist in capturing criminals (Wilbur, 2000). Sheriff’s Posses and constables were consisting of able-bodied men, because their service was liable. The collection of taxes and the supervision of election was the responsibility of the county sheriff. The night watchmen were in charge of looking out for suspicious activities and at times conducting weather reports (Wilbur, 2000).…

    • 1208 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Policy Anaysis Ii

    • 2201 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The United States received most of its policing ideas from Great Britain. During the 18th century, the idea of policing began its evolution. Individuals, clans, and families assumed the responsibility for taking revenge on any individual posing a threat, causing injury, or executing an offense. In one form or another, society dealt with any individual’s decision for committing a crime, even though no formal law enforcement agency existed. Prior to the early policing era, society designated specific individuals for maintaining security for each family, group, or clan. Some of the early forms of punishment during this period include branding, beating, or mutilating a criminal offender. These kinds of criminal disciplines progressed over time. For example, the Roman Empire maintained civil order with some kind of a military structure. This form of military policing ruled with an “iron-fist,” and used extreme measures for maintaining social law and order. During 1626, the city of New York founded the New York City Sheriff’s Office. This organization…

    • 2201 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Best Essays

    Within the criminal justice system in the United States, there are influences of positive and negative balances in respect to cultural consideration in society. This burden of cultural differences is a result of various cultures’ influx into the United States and the involvement of individuals from these migrating cultures with various players of the criminal justice system and security administration of their practices. In this paper, the author will discuss cultural concerns as it affects the criminal justice system from security administrative practices, contemporary methods used in mixed, considerations and Sir Robert Peel’s principles to organize police departments.…

    • 2429 Words
    • 70 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    America is a country of laws, without laws it would be complete chaos. But with all of the people that live in America you can’t expect everyone to follow the laws, and not everyone does. Ever since the beginning of this great country people have committed criminal acts. Way back when America was still a British colony we didn’t have anyone that was hired to keep everything in order. The first form of American law enforcement was the Night Watch System. How the Night Watch System worked was people would volunteer to watch over their neighborhood and keep the piece all night long. Nobody was in charge of doing this, it was strictly whoever wanted to do it could. Soon American cities grew too large for this system, they had to find another way to patrol the cities. The colonies decided to use the same law enforcement style that their mother country, England, used. The government hired people to enforce laws. Whoever the government chose to hire would be easily recognized as police officers and they would wear uniforms and hats. In 1833, Philadelphia became the first city to employ both day and night watchmen. Five years later Boston formed the first organized police department, consisting of six full time officers. (“Criminal Justice” Gaines/Miller). It’s amazing how far law enforcement has come since then, now instead of six law enforcement officials we have several law enforcement agencies full of thousands of people. We even have state and federal law enforcement officials. Some of the most important state law enforcement officials are the police and the highway patrol. They have evolved drastically since 1833, and are now some of the most important people in their respected states. Some of the most important federal law agencies are the FBI, and the CIA. Even though these are newer than the state law enforcement…

    • 2173 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Home Office, 2010. Policing in the 21st century: reconnecting police and the people. [online] (Updated July.) Available at: <http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/consultations/policing-21st-century/policing-21st-full-pdf> [Accessed 30 April].…

    • 3183 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Looking briefly at the history of the American police, the police force is structure based off the English boobies in the 18th century. Drawing heavily on English practice, the United States police force had a rocky start. “Crime-particularly crimes like murder, robbery, rape, and burglary…was rare in the earliest colonies…this was largely due to the fact that they were settles by small and fairly homogeneous groups…”(Vila page 2). Not only did the police force have little to now power or structure in the early years, but also they were not needed in the colonies. The first city to create a police department was the New York City in the 19th century.…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Chambliss,W. (1997). “Policing the Ghetto Underclass: The Politics of Law and Law Enforcement.” In Public Policy: Crime and Criminal Justice, edited by B. Handcock and P. Sharp, 146–166. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.…

    • 1431 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the history of the United States, the ranks of police officers have been dominated by white males. As a result, the underrepresentation of minorities and women has long been a problem in policing. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1972 Equal Employment Opportunity Act made discriminating against any individual based upon their color, sex, religion or national origin illegal, thus paving the way for more minorities and women to become police officers. Before the implementation and enforcement of these acts, it was extremely difficult for minorities and women to get a job in policing. Experts in the field of law enforcement maintain that diversity in…

    • 958 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Police Force History

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages

    ) Police are a “body of officers representing the civil authority of government.” (Banton) Police are responsible for maintaining public order and safety, enforcing the law, and preventing and investigating any criminal activities. The existence of American law enforcement has been around since the first Europeans landed in North America. America inherited much of its government policies from Great Britain. “The first Europeans who landed on our shores, found a strange and wondrous new land, inhabited by strange and wondrous people. The newcomers had all they could do to establish themselves and to protect themselves from those who did not wish to share their land. Thus, policing was the responsibility of all able-bodied men, and, of course,…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Policing Culture Paper

    • 813 Words
    • 24 Pages

    Throughout history the role of women and racial and ethnic minorities has been restrained. This causes the inability to move up in ranking and limiting the ability to perform in certain jobs. Being a woman or having a different racial background can also cause stereotypes. For example, a Hispanic officer may be given a Hispanic area to patrol, due to his background. The need for minorities and women in law enforcement is undoubtedly true. The culture, and gender diversity in police departments is not only helpful in today’s police departments, but it is a necessity. The larger police departments such as Detroit City police could not be a successful department without ethnic minorities, and women. One example of the need for women in the department would be that on a routine stop if there were a female that is suspected of a crime, or suspected to be in the possession of drugs she needs to be searched. A long time ago a male officer would simply search the woman, and arrest her if need be, or send her on her way. With all of the sexual harassment accusations against male police officers during the frisking it is easier on the department, as well as the women being frisked just to have a female officer do the task to avoid accusations, or even the loss of a case. Cities in the United states especially the large cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Miami, or Detroit is extremely ethnically diverse. This is where ethnic police officers are needed. If there was a call that police officers responded to there is a possibility that the person who is being interviewed at the scene would only want to talk with an ethnic police officer this will not only calm down the person being interviewed, but it will be a more effective interview. These are just a few examples of why…

    • 813 Words
    • 24 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Police History Policing

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In conclusion, the history of policing has evolved in an interesting way to the law enforcement we have in place today. Sir Robert Peel led the way for law enforcement in England. His theory and practice naturally followed into the United States during…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Police History

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The concept of policing, based on English policing systems, brought to America by the earliest English colonists. Over time, the law enforcement system had changes, as a result titles, credentials, and responsibilities had major differences within the legal system. Looking into police history, it will determine how the law enforcement comes into place. Identifying and describing the impact of Sir Robert Peel on American policing. Analyze the relationship between the United States Government and the entire policing organizations throughout the United States and explain how this relationship may affect police practices.…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    institutional racism

    • 3087 Words
    • 13 Pages

    ‘Critically analyse the concept of institutional racism in policing and evaluate policy responses to it’…

    • 3087 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays