Since the founding of this country, to the wild west, and up to the present, the agenda of the policing bodies have been clear: to uphold and enforce the laws of our society. Of course the way they do this today had undergone changes from the first police forces of early America, law enforcement has seen trends come and go.
Law enforcement is divided into three major eras throughout history. These eras are the political era, the reform era and the community era. The political era that took place between 1840-1930 was characterized by five points, which was the authority was coming from politicians and the law, a broad social service function, decentralized organization, an intimate relationship with the community, and the extensive use of foot patrol. The downside to the political era was that the police got its authority from the politics and the law, the close tie with politics posed as a problem.
'In New York, for example, the first chief of police could not dismiss officers under his command. The tenure of the chief was limited to one year. Consequently, any early New York cop who was solidly supported by his alderman and assistant alderman could disobey a police superior with virtual impunity. So while the British were firing bobbies left and right for things like showing up late for work, wearing disorderly uniforms, and behaving discourteously to citizens, American police were assaulting superior officers, refusing to go on patrol, extorting money from prisoners, and releasing prisoners from custody of other officers...';
Klockars (1985, p. 42)
Needless to say that corruption became a big problem in American law enforcement. Probably the biggest factor that underlined the problem of corruption during this era was the soils system, whose motto was, 'To the victor go the spoils.'; This resulted in gross political interference with policing. For example, the winning party was under the impression that its members should be immune from arrest and given special privileges in naming favorites for promotions and they assisted in carrying out personal vendettas against other political opponents. So what happened is that this system led to the politicians staffing the country's police forces with incompetent people as rewards for support and 'fixing'; arrests, or making sure arrests were not made wh...
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...ter, in the 1930's, August Vollmer and O.W. Wilson, two American police pioneers, advanced the goal of 'prof
Since the founding of this country, to the wild west, and up to the present, the agenda of the policing bodies have been clear: to uphold and enforce the laws of our societyessionalizing' law enforcement. Their efforts ushered in the 'second wave' of major law enforcement reform. Standardization, specialization, synchronization, concentration, maximization, and centralization, dominated law enforcement during this era...
The civil unrest of the mid-1960's through the mid-1970's was the impetus for the advocacy of the 'third wave' of major law enforcement reform.
The third wave is now. The question is, will it bury us or carry us boldly forward into the twenty-first century?';
Tafoya (1990, p. 15)
Works Cited
Klockars, C.B. The Idea of Police. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1985
Roberg, R.R. and Kuykendall, J. Police and Society. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1993.
Tafoya, W.L. 'The Future of Policing.'; FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (January 1990): 13-17.
The population grew and ‘breakdown in law and order marched in step with the industrial revolution’ (Critchley, 1978: 21). The industrial revolution meant technological progression, better education and an increase in capital stock. As a result, the population grew, with more new people moving into the area, meaning there was less informal social control. Due to these factors, 1829 saw the introduction of the ‘New Police’ to London, the Metropolitan Police were brought in to solve the issue of crime and disorder. The poor initially feared that the introduction of the Metropolitan police would mean that they would be controlled and oppressed by the powerful to a much larger extent. By the same token, the orthodox view is that the old system was failing and that this was an effective step that had to be taken in order to respond to the diversity of this more cultured society. The working class were content as the New Police looked out for their welfare Melville Lee (1901: xxx) claimed that the New Police were ‘guardians of the weak against the strong […] designed to stand between the powerful and the weak, to prevent oppression, danger and crime’. In contrast, the revisionist view is that the New Police were necessary to cope with the needs of the modern capital class. Although, at first the New Police were treated with great hostility by everyone within society, somewhat
Kelling , G and Wilson, J . ( 1 March 1982) . The Atlantic: Broken window the police
As American history has shown us, with great power also comes great responsibility. The great power part has not been as much of a problem as the great responsibility has. And as history have shown us, many of those officers show great control and responsibility, but there are a small percentage of those officers who are corrupt.
Peak, K. J. (2006). Views. In K. J. Peak, Policing America: Methods/Issues/Challenges (p. 263). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Although, it has also been criticized for been incompatible with the community, inflexible and undermining some goals of policing, it is still acknowledged as an important organizational development in policing during the latter half of the 20th century (BJA, police executive research
As taught in the lectures, it is impossible for police officers to win the war against crime without bending the rules, however when the rules are bent so much that it starts to violate t...
The Political Era of policing occurred in the early 1800’s and lasted until the 1930’s, and was under the direct influence of the local government and politicians. There were benefits of political influence; police departments began to develop intimate relationships within their communities offering a wide array of services to citizens. For example, the police worked soup kitchens and provided temporary housing for immigrants searching for work (Peak, 2015). In addition to providing an array of services to the community, officers were integrated into neighborhoods, which helped to prevent and contain riots. Typically, officers were assigned to neighborhoods where they lived or had the same ethnic background. Police departments
& Forst, L.S. (2016). An Introduction to Policing (8th Edition). Boston, MA USA: Cengage Learning. p.243 (245). Retrieved June 6, 2017, from https://www.betheluniversityonline.net
The first police department in America developed in New York and began the first era of policing which spanned from the 1830s to 1900 and is known as the political era (Walker & Katz, 2012). As emphasized by Walker (1999) not only did the political era of policing revolve around politics but provided officers with little to no training, education or recruitment standards (as cited in Police: History, 2014). The era also forced shaky job security for law enforcement and officers could be fired and hired at any point with little to no reason. Even men with criminal records were foot patrolling and women were only seen as “matrons” for the jail; they did not carry weapons and often times had very little arrest discretion (Walker & Katz, 2012). According to Walker and Katz (2012), “a $300 payment to the Tammany Hall poli...
This era is where the shift from a centralized task force has gravitated to a decentralized task force, causing some friction from both the community and the officers that serve it. Police are told that they are needed to listen to the concerns for the community; however, law enforcement is still the primary goal. Police forces now have to defend the values for which the forces were built upon. The idea of problem solving has come into question with police discretion towards certain run-ins with the law. Williams and Murphy argue it is due to the lack of sensitivity from minorities and the concern on crime itself than the community. Kelling and Moore contradict Williams and Murphy, with Kelling/Moore suggesting the era is more about listening to concerns of the community and improving the citizen satisfaction. But both the article came to the conclusion of the silent underlying problems that are becoming more of a “quiet riot” with the police and the
Describe the various "styles of policing" discussed in this chapter. Which do you think are the most popular today? Which do you think are the most effective? Due Date March 11, 2005
Time may pass and personal morals may change, but one of the strengths of the United States of America is its unwavering dedication to justice. Throughout time, this country’s methods and laws have grown and adapted, but the basis of the law enforcement’s work has remained the same: the safety and interest of the people.
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...
Across America, police have been involved in scandals and drugs. They are abusing the power that they have been given. The communities have begun not to trust the police because of their conduct toward the citizens. People have been beaten and harassed by the guys in blue. People in the communities have seen the police push individuals around and take things from individuals for no reason. People receive the wrong message. The public no longer can see a difference between the police and criminals.
The New Zealand Police is the lead agency responsible for helping the community to decrease or reduce crime, corruption and improve the responsibility of safety and protection in New Zealand. There is a need to make changes to the police culture in order to improve the performance of their organisation. However there are three fundamental errors that need to be addressed which will be discussed in this essay. Firstly, there is a lack of an established sense of urgency which has the potential to jeopardize the future of the organization. Secondly is, not creating a powerful enough guiding coalition which means there is a lack of communication which resulted in an absence of leadership and teamwork from frontline staff to national headquarters. Finally, an undercommunicating the vision by a factor of ten that organisation leader needs to communicate visions and strategies. These three errors are relevant as they are pivotal in the implementation of a managing change programme. Recommendations are also provided to improve on how the New Zealand Police can be enhanced within a management perspective.