Chapter 01 - Police History

Question 1

Beat System

Answer 1

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.

Question 2

CompStat

Answer 2

Weekly crime strategy meetings, featuring the latest computerized crime statistics and high-stress brainstorming; developed by the NYCPD in the mid-1990s.

Question 3

Constable

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Department of Homeland Security

Answer 4

Federal cabinet department established in the aftermath of 9/11.

Question 5

Dred Scott decision

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Hue & Cry

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Jury Nullification

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

Mutual Pledge

Answer 8

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

Question 9

National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Kerner Commission)

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Peel’s Nine Principles

Answer 10

Basic guidelines created by Sir Robert Peel for the London Metropolitan Police in 1829.

Question 11

Posse Comitatus

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Praetorian Guard

Answer 12

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

Question 13

President’s Commission on Law Enforcement & Administration of Justice

Answer 13

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.

Question 14

Rodney King incident

Answer 14

The 1991 videotaped beating of an African American citizen by members of the LAPD

Question 15

Shire-reeve

Answer 15

Early English officials placed in charge of shires (counties) as part of the system of mutual pledge; evolved into the modern concept of the sheriff.

Question 16

Slave Patrols

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Terrorist Attacks against the USA on 9/11/2001

Answer 17

The terrorist attacks committed by al Qaeda.

Question 18

Thief-takers

Answer 18

Private English citizens with no official status who were paid by the king for every criminal they arrested. They were similar to the bounty hunter of the American West.

Question 19

Vigiles

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Volstead Act (National Prohibition, Eighteenth Amendment)

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Watch & Ward

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Wickersham Commission

Answer 22

Published the first national study of the US criminal justice system in 1931.