History of American Policing Flashcards
What did Sir Robert Peel do?
He introduced the Metropolitan Police Act in London with the goal of creating a police force to manage the social conflict resulting from urbanization and industrialization; Sir Robert Peel’s Principles of Law Enforcement
What kind of policing occurred in Colonial America?
Slave patrols (paddyrollers); managed the race-based conflict; searched for slave lodges, keeping slaves off roadways, and disassembling meetings organized by groups of slaves
Usually, what kinds of people were slave patrol members?
White males (occasionally a few women)
Between the 1800s and 1900s, how was policing?
-Policing was heavily involved in politics
-politicians had control over police agencies
-Police chiefs had little control over decision-making
What was policing reform like between the 1900s and 1970s?
-Goal was to remove politics from policing and making the police more professional
-Policing became focused on crime control
-Emergence of state highway police to aid in traffic control (August Vollmer)
Why was there policing reform between the 1900s and 1970s?
Political involvement in American policing was viewed as a problem by the public and police reformers
According to August Vollmer, what were some technological advancements made during the 1900s-1930s?
Two-way radio systems, fingerprinting systems, lie detectors, science-based crime labs
What significant movement occurred in the 1950s?
The civil rights movement
In Colonial America, what was the watch system responsible for?
Lighting street lamps, running soup kitchens, recovering lost children, capturing runaway animals
What was the frankpledge system in England?
A semistructured system in which groups of men were responsible for enforcing the law
What were the constables, sheriffs, and citizen-based watch groups responsible for in America?
Catching criminals, working with the courts, and collecting taxes
Who was August Vollmer?
The first police chief of Berkeley, CA and advocate for police reform
Roughly how many police departments are there today?
17,000; majority have 20 cops (small agencies)
