Policing - Past and Present
It has been said that to understand the world of today, one must understand the world of yesterday, police and police agencies are no different. The history of policing ranges all the way from citizens attempting to protect their community to today’s world of technology based policing. A recent development in policing stems from the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 which resulted in the created of the Department of Homeland Security. Various agencies neglected to share information they may have had regarding the situation and now many police agencies and federal agencies spend more training time on terrorist training scenarios. With technology advancing at such a fast rate one wonders what policing will be like ten years from now, twenty, even fifty years from today.
Policing in America comes from an English heritage. In the past, men of a common area would band together and hunt down criminals or protect their families and other residents of the community. These men were led by a shire reeve or a comes stabuli, which are words for the modern Sheriff and Constable. (Schmalleger, Ph.D., 2009) Another aspect of the English roots that have an impact on today’s world of policing is the police force that was organized by Sir Robert Peel. Sir Robert Peel organized community policing and believed that the police could do their job without intruding on the lives of the people. (Larrabee, November 2007) Sir Robert Peel and his officers believed in two main principles: crime can be discouraged and the practice of preventative patrol. (Schmalleger, Ph.D., 2009)
In America policing began based off of the English background of policing. Cities during that time were more organized then rural areas and therefore had better methods for policing. The Frontier of America had not yet been settled and were policed by vigilantes, those who took it upon themselves to police and enforce laws,