Crime Control Policing Terms/Definitions

Beat System

System of policing created by Sir Robert Peel for the London Metropolitan Police in 1829 in which officers were assigned to relatively small permanent posts

CompStat

Weekly crime strategy meetings, featuring the latest computerized crime statistics and high-stress brainstorming; developed by the New York City Police Department in the mid-1990s

Constable

An official assigned to keep the peace in the mutual pledge system in England

Department of Homeland Security

Federal cabinet department established in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001

Dred Scott decision

Infamous U.S. Supreme Court decision of 1857 ruling that slaves had no rights as citizens because they were considered to be property

Hue and Cry

A method developed in early England for citizens to summon assistance from fellow members of the community.

Jury Nullification

A vote by jurors to either ignore the evidence in a trial or disregard the instructions of a judge to reach a verdict based on their own consciences

Mutual Pledge

A form of community self-protection developed by King Alfred the Great in the latter part of the ninth century in England

National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Kerner Commission)

Commission created in 1968 to address the reasons for the riots of the 1960s

Peel’s Nine Principles

• Prevent crime and disorder

• Recognize that the power of the police

• Recognize that to secure and maintain the respect and approval of the public

• Recognize that the extent to which the cooperation of the public can be secured

• Seek and preserve public favor

• Use physical force only when the exercise of persuasion, advice, and warning is found to be insufficient

• Maintain at all times a relationship with the public

• Recognize always the need for strict adherence to police-executive functions

• Recognize always that the test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder,

posse comitatus 

Common law descendent of the old hue and cry. If a crime spree occurred or a dangerous criminal was in the area, the U.S. frontier sheriff would call upon the posse comitatus, a Latin term meaning “the power of the county.”

Praetorian Guard

Select group of highly qualified members of the military established by the Roman emperor Augustus to protect him and his palace.

President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice

Commission that issued a report in 1967 entitled The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society. The commission was created in the wake of the problems of the 1960s, particularly the problems between police and citizens.

Rodney King incident

The 1991 videotaped beating of an African American citizen by members of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Shire-Reeve

(Sheriff) Early English official placed in charge of shires (counties) as part of the system of mutual pledge

Slave Patrols

Police-type organizations created in the American South during colonial times to control slaves and support the Southern economic system of slavery

thief-takers

(Bounty Hunters) Private English citizens with no official status who were paid by the king for every criminal they arrested

Vigiles

Early Roman firefighters who also patrolled Rome’s streets to protect citizens

Volstead Act (National Prohibition, Eighteenth Amendment)

Became law in 1920 and forbade the sale and manufacture of alcohol.

Watch and Ward

A rudimentary form of policing, designed to protect against crime, disturbances, and fire. All men were required to serve on it