Chapters Summary
CHAPTER 4
Police History and Organization
Our English Heritage
- Origins of American police traceable to England
- English heritage contributed three key ideas to American policing
- Police have limited authority
- Local control
- Decentralized
English Models of Policing
- Kin police
- Voluntary model
- Adult males protected neighbors
- Frankpledge
- Tythings
- Hundreds
- Shire
- Parish-constable
- Night watchman
- Hue and cry
- Uniformed police
- Thief takers
- Bow Street Runners
- Metropolitan Police Act
American Policing
- Colonists brought over the parish-constable model
- Colonists began evading their policing duty
- Ordinances and fines not completely effective
Origins of Organized Police
- Threats of fines insufficient; police work not attractive
- Philadelphia tried hiring police; approach failed
- Public riots frequent; precursor to Revolution
- Crime increased
Growth, Brutality, and Corruption
- Growing population—migrants and immigrants
- American cities implemented system similar to London police model
- Decentralized police and local political control led to police brutality and corruption
Police Professionalism
- Theodore Roosevelt as NYC police commissioner
- Changed how department was run
- Reduced corruption
- Inspired other departments to make similar changes
August Vollmer
- Chief of Police, Berkeley, CA; used Roosevelt’s ideas, added new ones
- Key principles of reform agenda
- Restrict political influence
- Hire qualified managers
- Redefine police role
- Raise personnel standards
- Apply scientific management
- Develop specialized units
Police Professionalism
- Professionalism movement did not fulfill its own expectations
- Technology changed how police worked
- Automobiles
- Two-way radios
- Telephones
Testing the Reform Model
- 1960s: social unrest, clash between police and public
- Police reforms failed to calm angry public
- Supreme Court decisions
- Mapp v. Ohio
- Miranda v. Arizona
- Katz v. United States
A Quiet Revolution
- Community policing
- Police/public partnership
- Reactive strategy
- Problem-oriented policing
- Proactive strategy
- Police identify problem, develop solution
- Zero-tolerance policing
- Broken windows theory
Local Police
- 18,000+ local policing agencies
- Regardless of size, local police have similar duties
- Racial, ethnic, gender composition very different from past police
Sheriff’s Departments
- Sheriff: Chief law enforcement officer of county
- Usually elected
- Duties more varied, demanding than those of city police
- Jurisdiction may have large geographical size but small population
State Police
- 49 states have police agencies
- Statewide authority
- Conduct investigations, enforce traffic laws, and respond to calls for service
Federal Police
- Wide variety of duties
- 73 federal policing agencies
- Employ more than 100,000 people authorized to make arrests and carry firearms
U.S. Marshals Service
- Oldest federal police agency
- Enforcement arm of federal courts
- Involved in every federal policing program
- Broadest authority, jurisdiction of all federal officers
U.S. Secret Service
- Established in 1865 as bureau of Department of Treasury
- Originally created to combat currency counterfeiting
- Now also protects President, VP, heads of state
U.S. Postal Inspection Service
- Founded in 1737 by Benjamin Franklin
- Investigates crimes that may adversely affect the U.S. mail, the postal system, or postal employees
Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Principal investigation arm of the Department of Justice
- Primary focus: counterterrorism, cyber crime, white-collar crime, organized crime, major thefts, violent crime
- Authorized to provide support to other law enforcement agencies
International Police: Interpol
- No official international police force
- Interpol facilitates international police cooperation and supports organizations in preventing, combating international crimes
- Responsibilities
- Secure global police communication services
- Organize data services and databases for police
- Operate police support services
Private Security Officers
- Not sworn officers; arrest powers restricted
- About three times as many private security officers as public sworn officers
- Police officers may moonlight as private security
- Private security officers typically poorly trained