The History of Policing

The Police and Stratification

  • The more stratified a society, the greater the need for social control

  • Control behaviors that may threaten the status quo


Ancient Police Forces

  • Babylonia Police were under direct control of monarchs (totalitarian)

  • Ancient Greece “Kin-Police” that were self-sufficient and self-policing

  • All citizens were police


Emergence in England

  • Feudal Societies Policing: Community Responsible

  • As they grew into shires, “shire reeves” policed

  • Shift with emergence of Capitalism, IR: Increased class divisions, more propertyless and powerless surplus population, threatened the social order/status quo



Sir Robert Peel

  • Early 19th Century

  • Developed into fine-tuned bureaucracy

  • State had more intrusion into personal lives

  • Crime prevention through patrols



Policing in America

  • Early America relied on community policing

  • 19th Century crime rates: Surge in crime, vice, disorder

  • What emerged?: Police size grew faster than population and crime, most was disorderly conduct and vagrancy, police controlled by business and political leaders

  • Early 20th Century police were of service variety

  • Progressive Era (1880-1920): Wanted to define policing as profession, distance police from political influence, raise personnel standards, and use principles of scientific management (create specialized units)

  • 1880-1920: Crimes during this period include Black Codes, Robber Barons and Mann Act (Labor Organizing)

  • 1920-1960: Crimes during this period include Prohibition, Labor Organization, Civil Rights or Jim Crow, Communists

  • Civil Rights Era: Damaged reputation of police, at the same time crime increased, led to “crime control” model

  • 1980: Community Policing emerged (Broad provision of services, focus on neighborhood disorder), police focused on minor crimes with assumptions it lead to more serious ones, increases suspicion

  • 2010: Police have taken on a hybrid role between “crime fighters” and “public servants”



Machine Politics

  • Late 19th, early 20th Century

  • Much of service was for political allies (i.e. organized crime, voting)

  • Did provide services (i.e. homeless shelter)

  • System of Patronage



Role of Police

  • Maintaining Order

  • Providing Public Assistance

  • Active Policing