Police in America
Police in America
Amy Quinn
CJA 214
February 2013
Professor Kehoe
Police in America
According to our text, Robert Peel is the “father of modern policing” (Walker & Katz ,2011). Robert Peel was an English political leader whom saw the need to improve and structure law enforcement. (Walker & Katz, 2011) He devoted his time to seeking solutions to his countries ever growing social problems. Peel helped create the first police force, “The London Metropolitan Police in 1829” (Walker & Katz ,2011). Peel adapted the military use of uniforms, ranks and hierarchy to place emphasis on the roles of police in the community. The three core elements instated by Peel were “crime prevention, police presence in the community through patrol, and the organization of police into a form of military type structure.”(Walker & Katz ,2011) The emphasis of crime prevention was to detour crime by presence of officers in the community. Communities were now able to distinguish the role of the officers by the differentiation of their uniforms which commanded respect and offered security and this became used in modern police forces in the United States.
In the United States we use this military type model in our police agencies. There are ranks, hierarchy structures, internal affairs sections to avoid police corruption, differing badges to denote the police type, use of weapons, to name a few similarities between modern police units and military. Emphasis seems to have changed from the ideas of crime prevention. In many cases there are not many officers present in the community as there once was. The officers are not as much a visible presences as they once were. With the ideas that police patrol would offer a detour ant to crime the population has grown and the ideas of a constant police presence has fallen off. There are not enough police to cover mass areas at all times and though these idea are present in current law enforcement there is need to reevaluate
Amy Quinn
CJA 214
February 2013
Professor Kehoe
Police in America
According to our text, Robert Peel is the “father of modern policing” (Walker & Katz ,2011). Robert Peel was an English political leader whom saw the need to improve and structure law enforcement. (Walker & Katz, 2011) He devoted his time to seeking solutions to his countries ever growing social problems. Peel helped create the first police force, “The London Metropolitan Police in 1829” (Walker & Katz ,2011). Peel adapted the military use of uniforms, ranks and hierarchy to place emphasis on the roles of police in the community. The three core elements instated by Peel were “crime prevention, police presence in the community through patrol, and the organization of police into a form of military type structure.”(Walker & Katz ,2011) The emphasis of crime prevention was to detour crime by presence of officers in the community. Communities were now able to distinguish the role of the officers by the differentiation of their uniforms which commanded respect and offered security and this became used in modern police forces in the United States.
In the United States we use this military type model in our police agencies. There are ranks, hierarchy structures, internal affairs sections to avoid police corruption, differing badges to denote the police type, use of weapons, to name a few similarities between modern police units and military. Emphasis seems to have changed from the ideas of crime prevention. In many cases there are not many officers present in the community as there once was. The officers are not as much a visible presences as they once were. With the ideas that police patrol would offer a detour ant to crime the population has grown and the ideas of a constant police presence has fallen off. There are not enough police to cover mass areas at all times and though these idea are present in current law enforcement there is need to reevaluate
References: Department of Justice, Preserving Life and Liberty, retrieved from the internet: http://www.justice.gov/archive/ll/highlights.htm Grant, H.B. & Terry, K.J. 2012. Law Enforcement in the 21stCentury, 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson/Prentice Hall. Louis Brandeis, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Olmstead v. United States (1928), Google search, Civil Liberties, Retrieved from the internet: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0277_0438_ZD.html Walker, S. & Katz, C.M. 2011. The Police in America: An Introduction, 7th ed. New York, NY. McGraw-Hill.