Police History Flashcards

Flashcards about the history of policing.

What is the origin of the word 'police'?

From the Latin word 'politia,' meaning 'civil administration.'

In the sixth century BCE, who were responsible for law enforcement in Athens?

Unpaid magistrates (judges) appointed by the citizens of Athens.

Which civilization created the first specialized investigative unit, questors, also known as 'trackers of murder'?

Rome.

What were the roles of the Vigiles in ancient Rome?

Fire department and night watch force.

Who was responsible for the Statute of Winchester?

Alfred the Great.

What were the three major duties of watchmen in the watch system?

Patrolling the streets from dusk until dawn, performing duties like lighting street lamps and clearing garbage, and enforcing the criminal law.

Who were the thief-takers in seventeenth-century policing?

Private citizens with no official status, similar to bounty hunters.

Who founded the first modern police force?

Henry Fielding.

Who drafted the Metropolitan Police Act of 1828?

Sir Robert Peel.

In the seventeenth-century Northern colonies, who was the most important law enforcement official?

The county sheriff.

What were slave patrols?

A formal system of social control in the Southern colonies.

What Supreme Court decision declared that enslaved persons were not citizens of the U.S.?

Dred Scott v. Sandford

Which city created a police department in 1838 that only worked during the daytime?

Boston.

Which was the first U.S. state police agency?

Texas Rangers.

Name a private police agency of the Frontier Experience.

The Pinkerton Agency.

What organization was founded in 1893 to promote professionalism in policing?

The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).

Who instituted many practices that professionalized policing in the United States?

August Vollmer.

Who transformed the FBI into a primary law enforcement agency?

John Edgar Hoover.

Which Supreme Court case applied the exclusionary rule to all states?

Mapp v. Ohio.

Which Supreme Court case required police to inform suspects of their constitutional rights?

Miranda v. Arizona.

What national commissions were created in the 1960s to address crime and civil disorders?

President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice and National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Kerner Commission).

What does the LEAA stand for?

Office of Law Enforcement Assistance.

Who founded Black Lives Matter?

Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Garza.