The History of Police Agencies and Different Types of Law Enforcement

Development of Police Agencies:

Policing in the United States has mainly been based and expanded on the ideas of English way of policing. The English way of policing has not only been used as the basis for American policing but it has also been used to commence an era of evolving police agencies. In its early years, policing in the United States was largely regarded as a civic duty or responsibility of community members. The appointed officers were neither trained nor paid for their services to community members. Consequently, the chosen Sheriffs were usually motivated by financial incentives and lost their focus on enforcement of the law, which contributed to the perception that policing was primarily reactive in nature. However, the nature and structure of policing changed significantly following the emergence of urbanization, industrialism, and the society, which resulted in increase in crime. This forced the police or law enforcement officers to adopt a more proactive approach rather than the reactive approach that was traditionally associated with law enforcement. Notably, the history of policing has been characterized by considerable changes from time to time due to several factors like technological advancements and increase in threats to security.

History of Police Agencies:

The modern police agencies have grown and developed since the early 1600s to become an increasingly organized group that endeavors to prevent crime while preserving the rights and professionalism of citizens. Generally, modern policing in the United has been shaped by the early English police styles (“The History of the Police”, n.d.). This is primarily because the first organized policing agencies were witnessed in the early 1800s but exper...

... middle of paper ...

...artments provide specialized uniformed services for a particular location while investigative branches have an allocated section of United States Code that they enforce. Specialized police agencies are departments of special jurisdiction that do not necessarily operate on the state level such as airport and campus police departments. County police agencies are the second most prevalent law enforcement departments while tribal agencies are basically a combination of local and federal uniformed police.

In conclusion, police agencies in the United States have mainly developed based on policing in England with regards to nature and structure. Notably, this development has also been fueled by changes that have taken place in the society from time to time. Currently, there are more than 15,000 police agencies in America in different jurisdictions and different roles.