History of Policing Notes
Chapter 4: The History of Policing
Learning Objectives
- Discuss the historical foundations and evolution of policing in the United States.
- Understand social change and diversity in policing.
- Identify challenges and reforms in policing.
The Role of Police in Society
- Policing as we know it today is relatively new.
- U.S. policing derived from the evolution of policing in England.
Early English Policing
- Borh: Informal social unit of early policing (ended in 1066).
- Composed of 12 volunteers.
- Offenders who refused to pay restitution could be killed with impunity by anyone.
- The Borh system fell after the Norman Conquest in 1066.
- Frankpledge System: A suretyship-based system of policing using tythings.
- Tything (Tithing): All men 12 and older from 10 households. Participation was mandatory.
- Hundred: Ten tythings grouped into a security collective.
- Parish Constable: Policing agent for smaller towns, initially elected by parishioners.
- Unarmed, unpaid, and part-time.
- Shire Reeves: Appointed by the Crown or local landowners to supervise the territory and ensure orderly conduct.
- Watchmen: Used to protect property in larger communities in England and colonial America.
- Patrolled at night to protect the community from robberies, fires, and other disturbances.
- Thief Takers: Hired by victims to capture offenders for a bounty. Often corrupt.
The Metropolitan Police Act of 1829
- Introduced by Sir Robert Peel.
- Established London’s Metropolitan Police Force.
- Marked the beginning of modern public policing.
- Bobbies (or Peelers): Officers that replaced the existing and corrupt system of parish constables and night watchmen.
- Peelian Principles: A widely cited list describing Peel’s alleged philosophy.
- Importance of public approval.
- Need for public cooperation.
- Need for police to remain impartial.
- Use of physical force only when necessary.
Colonial America and Policing
- Resembled the English system.
- Preference for minimal, local policing.
- Formalized positions, appointed by governors and held by large landowners to protect their own lands.
- Parish Constables
- Colonial Sheriffs
Colonial Sheriffs and Their Roles
- Responsibilities:
- Capturing criminals.
- Serving subpoenas.
- Supervising elections.
- Dealing with religious nonconformists.
- Collecting taxes.
- Colonial sheriffs policed reactively.
- Addressed complaints after crimes occurred.
- Paid fees based on tasks performed.
- Sheriffs typically used these fees to enrich themselves at any cost.
Vigilantes
- Performed law enforcement duties without legal authority.
- Example: The “Regulator Movement” in colonial North Carolina.
- Example: South Carolina in the 1760s
- Fugitive Slave Law of 1850: U.S. Congress passed the law, increasing the need for slave patrols, which became a police responsibility.
- Slave Patrols (1704): Groups of 3 to 6 White men who regulated slave behavior and hunted escapees.
Why Was Policing Ineffective?
- Policing was strictly reactive.
- Enforcement of law was selective and unequal.
- Citizens had no respect for police.
- Citizens did not necessarily want the laws enforced.
Advancing Professionalism in Policing
- Professionalization of Policing (1830s): Transition to organized, professional police forces.
- August Vollmer: The Father of American Policing.
- Elected town marshal of Berkeley, CA, in 1905.
- Argued for the use of science, technology, education, and professionalism.
- Implemented code of ethics for officers.
- Third degree: Vollmer outlawed this method that included brutalizing individuals to gather information.
- International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP):
- Started in 1871.
- Original goal was to apprehend and return criminal offenders who had fled jurisdictions.
- Scope has changed significantly.
Modern IACP Goals
- Advancing the art and science of police work.
- Fostering cooperation.
- Developing information exchange among police agencies.
- Promoting best practices (recruitment and training).
- Encouraging officers to behave with integrity and professional conduct.
Technology in Policing
- Vollmer was directly responsible for the adoption of many innovation police technologies today.
- Electric flashing signal alarms to alert police quickly.
- Outfitted officers with radios for communication.
- Patrols on bicycles (later motorcycles and patrol cars).
- Centralized police record systems.
- Modus operandi: System to classify offenders and crimes, which facilitated the identification of crime patterns.
- Scientific analysis of evidence (blood, fibers, soil).
- Implemented a lie detector–type instrument.
- Scientifically based screenings to prevent psychologically unstable individuals from becoming officers.
Diversity in Policing
- Historically (and still today), policing is dominated by men.
The First Woman Police Officer
- Lucy Gray: 1880s LA police matron, aided children and women who were victims or offenders.
- Police matron: Title frequently given to women working in the early days of policing.
- Alice Stebbins Wells: 1910, first full-time paid policewoman with arrest powers in LA.
- Georgia Robinson: First female black officer in 1916 in LA.
- Elizabeth Coffal & Betty Blankenship: 1968, Indianapolis police officers were the first women to receive uniforms, gun belts, and a marked police car.
- Gail Cobb: Black female officer, the first woman killed in the line of duty in 1974.
The First Black/African American Police Officer
- Determining the first Black/AA police officer is difficult, because many departments did not identify Black/AA police officers.
- Early records show that in 1872, Chicago appointed a Black/AA police officer, although his name is unknown.
- 1891: Wiley Overton is widely regarded as the “first” Black/AA police officer.
- 1899: Julius Boyd Loving was hired as a deputy in L.A.
- “Father of Jail Programs” – started the jail store, craft program, carpentry shop, shoe shop, and tailor shop.
- Designed three tier bunk system to reduce jail overcrowding
- As of 2013, African Americans accounted for 12% of police officers at the local level.
The First Hispanic Police Officer
- 1888: George Garcia became first Hispanic officer in New York
- 1868: Manuel Garcia Griego was the first recorded Hispanic officer killed in the line of duty, in Albuquerque, New Mexico (which was not yet a state)
- As of 2013:
- Hispanics accounted for 11.6% of police officers at the local level but this varies widely by jurisdiction
- In Philadelphia, only 6.5% of officers were Hispanic, but in Los Angeles, 43.6% of officers were Latino.
The First Native American Police Officer
- 1869: Thomas Lightfoot was a U.S. Indian agent for the federally sponsored Indian police.
- Native Americans have been protecting communities since before the United States was established:
- Arresting and turning back intruders; Removing squatters’ stakes; Driving out cattle, horse or timber thieves; Escorting survey parties; Serving as guards at ration and annuity distributions.
- Protecting agency buildings; Returning truants to school; Stopping bootleggers; Making arrests for disorderly conduct, drunkenness, wife-beating, theft; Keeping birth and death records.
- Data on American Indians officers are often incomplete: 14,000 local police officers were American Indian, Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander
The First Asian Police Officer
- 1958: Jim Beltran became the first Asian police officer in Seattle
- 1979: Harry Lee, the son of Chinese immigrants, was the first Asian American sheriff of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
- 1996: Fred Lau (who began his career as the first Asian enrolled at San Francisco Police Academy in 1970) became the first Asian American chief of police in a major city in San Francisco
- Heather Fong became the first female police chief in a major city not long after, serving in San Francisco from 2004 to 2009
- It is difficult to determine the amount of Asian police officers, as data tend to lump Asian officers into a larger group with other ethnicities
- Asians tend to be underrepresented in policing, and percentages vary by jurisdiction
- Philadelphia: 1.5% Asian; Los Angeles: 9.4% Asian
LGBTQ Police Officers
- There have always been lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning police officers.
- Being openly homosexual was unusual in the past, as law enforcement has been and continues to be homophobic.
- Estimating the number of past and current LGBTQ officers is challenging, but the number is growing.
The Civil Rights Movement and Policing
- The 1960s-1970s marked a period of civil unrest which hugely impacted policing.
- Huge legislative changes improved the civil rights of millions.
- Civil Rights Act of 1964: outlawed discrimination against racial, ethnic, national, and religious minorities and women.
- Voting Rights Act of 1965: ended literacy tests and protected minority voters in select jurisdictions.
- Despite the Civil Rights Movement, significant unrest existed between the police and communities of color.
Challenge of Crime in a Free Society
- “Challenge of Crime in a Free Society” (1967) called for police reform:
- Require officers to have college-level education.
- Improve training programs, techniques, and facilities.
- Modernize recruitment and promotion considerations.
- Rehabilitate community relationships (especially among the poor, minorities, juveniles.)
- Recruit more minorities.
- Improve officer supervision and discipline.
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act
The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act accomplished four goals:
- Established the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) and charged it with assisting state and local jurisdictions in preventing and reducing crime and improving the functioning of their criminal justice system.
- Addressed the admissibility of confessions in criminal trials.
- Established rules for obtaining wiretap orders.
- Included provisions that regulated firearm sales and possession.
Canine Police Officers
- 1899, Belgium was the beginning of the canine’s relationship with law enforcement.
- 1907, first documented police dog program established in the United States.
- By 1960, 44 canine units started, by the end of the decade, 350 programs existed.
- Public’s sentiment regarding police dogs is positive:
- Offer effective nonlethal method of deterring and detecting crime.
- Used to search buildings, areas for bombs, evidence, narcotics, chemicals, illegally taken game, and human remains.