Prior to the creation of the formal police academy, officers were taught using various methods that were not always effective or conducive to the work required of an officer. As a result, ill-equipped officers flooded the streets of nineteenth-century America, often unable to perform the primary duty of their job: protecting the public. The United States, inspired by England and other countries with better-developed public safety systems, desperately needed a method of ensuring safety for its people. The creation and evolution of the police academy defined what being a police officer entailed by teaching officers what is expected of them, not only job-requirement wise, but also morally and ethically. The Police Academy prepares an individual for the civil, educational, managerial, and everyday duties of police work while ensuring moral sturdiness and commitment to public service. By combining classroom lectures, CSI training, building search training, firearm training, and combative/defensive training, each officer that graduates the police academy is well prepared to handle every aspect of the work of a police officer.
In the early to mid-1800s, officers were often trained using various methods with questionable reliability. The first training in the police service, as in other professions, made its appearance in the form of apprenticeship (Gammage 5). A neophyte was to observe an experienced officer for a short time before beginning independent police work; this concept of training was based on the “rookie-see, rookie-do” model. An apprenticeship was considered lucky; in most departments recruits received no formal preservice training. They were handed a badge, a baton, and a copy of the department rules (...
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... Boston: Brookstone, 1968. Print.
This source describes popular police curricula taught at police academies throughout the United States. Along with summarizing the curricula, it also critically analyzes the methods and theories of the information being taught to new officers. Particularly used for information regarding minimum age requirements of officers, and the positive impact and negative restraints of requiring recruits to be twenty-one years old.
Walker, S, and C Katz. The Police in America. 7th. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 28-54. Print.
This textbook shared valuable information regarding the history of the criminal justice system, and more specifically the history of the police in America and England. It was most valuable for its discussion about Sir Robert Peel and his reforms to policing.
This essay will introduce two competing perspectives of policing, they are the orthodox and revisionist perspectives. This essay will then relate the orthodox and revisionist perspectives to the themes of lack of structure, industrialisation and finally hostility. The essay will then discuss whether the creation of the Metropolitan Police by Sir Robert Peel in 1829 was an effective
...Territo, L., & Taylor, R. W. (2012). Intelligence, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. Police administration: structures, processes, and behavior (8th ed., pp. 90-99). Boston: Pearson.
Roberts, Sam. “BOOKSHELF; Rooting Out Police Corruption.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 July 2012. Web. 04 Nov. 2012.
It is both a result and a cause of police isolation from the larger society and of police solidarity. Its influence begins early in the new officer’s career when he is told by more experienced officers that the “training given in police academies is irrelevant to ‘real’ police work”. What is relevant, recruits are told, is the experience of senior officers who know the ropes or know how to get around things. Recruits are often told by officers with considerable experience to forget what they learned in the academy and in college and to start learning real police work as soon as they get to their Field Training Officers. Among the first lessons learned are that police officers share secrets among themselves and that those secrets especially when they deal with activities that are questionable in terms of ethics, legality, and departmental policy, are not to be told to others. They also are told that administrators and Internal Affairs officers cannot often be trusted. This emphasis on the police occupational subculture results in many officers regarding themselves as members of a “blue
Peak, K. J. (2006). Views. In K. J. Peak, Policing America: Methods/Issues/Challenges (p. 263). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
By teaching police officers alternatives to shooting to kill, they experience higher risks with their lives. Police Commissioner, Ray Kelly, said, “It would be "very difficult" to train officers to shoot to wound” (Jacobo, 2016). Police officers are viewed as “predators” and “an occupying army” rather than allies (Valey, 2016). This is a perception that needs to change because it counteracts the mission of police officers
The article Police and Higher Education: Where are We Now by Roy Roberg and Scott Bonn discuss and review past articles and ideas about whether or not police officers should be required to have earned a college degree in order to qualify a position in law enforcement within the United States. The first person who believed in the idea that police officers should be required to hold a college degree in order to be qualified for a position was August Vollmer. August Vollmer was “the father of American police professionalism” (Walker & Katz, 2011). Vollmer is best known for being a supporter of higher education within law enforcement. However, many officers and high ranking officials did not believe in the concept of needing to obtain a college degree in order to protect their community. A majority of police officers in law enforcement did not have a college degree nor did police departments require it to be considered a position. Moreover, many police departments did not necessitate a high school diploma but rather a general equivalency diploma. The first time that this idea was utilized was during the time of the 1960’s, when, in the early 1960’s, crime was increasing drastically and by the late 1960’s the ghetto riots took place, opening the eyes of those in charge that something needed to change, and change quickly in order to prevent criminal activity and chaos.
American policing originated from early English law and is profoundly influenced by its history. Early law enforcement in England took on two forms of policing, one of which heavily influenced modern policing and it is known as the watch (Potter, 2013). The watch consisted, at first, of volunteers which had to patrol the streets for any kind of disorder including crime and fire. After men attempted to get out of volunteering by paying others, it became a paid professional position (Walker & Katz, 2012). The three eras of policing in America are shaped by these early ideas and practices of law enforcement. Throughout time, sufficient improvements and advancements have been made from the political era to the professional era and finally the community era which attempts to eliminate corruption, hire qualified officers and create an overall effective law enforcement system.
Rutkin, Aviva. "Policing The Police." New Scientist 226.3023 (2015): 20-21. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
I participated in a police ride-along with the Fairfax County Police Department on October 30th. I chose the Fair Oaks District Station for the ride since my home falls within that particular district’s boundaries. At 8 p.m., I was introduced to Officer Crutchman; the police officer I would be accompanying for the night. We headed out after a brief overview of some safety rules and expectations. Over the course of the shift I was able to observe many of the routine duties of a FCPO such as responding to calls, setting speed traps, performing traffic stops, assisting fellow officers, and patrolling neighborhoods and public parks. Officer Crutchman provided valuable insight into police work, beyond the procedural knowledge that Mason classes
This paper will show four different police departments that are currently hiring or recruiting for police officers. There will be a summary on the research found on the process used to recruit police officers. It will also show their current hiring trends and what hiring practices they have that are successful or not successful. The paper will also go over the different methods departments use to train their new officers and their values.
...T., Reiner, R. (2012) ‘Policing the Police’ in The Official Handbook of Criminology. Ed. By Maguire, M., Morgan, R., Reiner, R. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 806- 838
Hodgson, Jacqueline. "Adding Injury to Injustice: The Suspect at the Police Station." Journal of Law and Society Mar. 1994: 85-101. Academic OneFile. Web. 15 Feb. 2015.
American law enforcement agencies are based off the English models which began in the early 1800’s. In 1829, the English Parliament passed the Metropolitan Police Act (Walker, 1983). Sir Robert Peel who has been credited as the father of modern policing introduced this act to Parliament (Walker, 1983). This act established the London Metropolitan Police which was the model for American policing. This method of policing incorpor...
Field training has a significant impact on the individual Officer In Training in terms of imprinting attitudes, style, values, and ethics in carrying out the duties of police work that will remain throughout a career. It is probably the most effective influence on the future direction of a department." (Evansville Police Department) The law enforcement department that oversees the Field Training Officer program has to ensure that the program fully teaches about the department policies and prepares the officer to perform the skills necessary to perform their duties. The field training program staff has a major responsibility of building the future of the department through the officers that are being trained. In order to assure success, the Field Training Officer program of each department must have a training philosophy that ensures that every Officer In Training is given the maximum opportunity to show that he or she can perform the job assigned."In order to accomplish this, the program must create a positive environment in which learning is maximized and in which Officer In Training’s are able to perform to the best of their ability.