UNIT #1 - EVOLUTION OF POLICING Flashcards
List some unique features about Police, Police Structure, and/or Policy that set Canada apart from the US, UK and/or Australia
(5)
1) Sworn officers are armed unlike UK and Australia
2) Canada has a National Police Service (unlike UK that is separated in England, Wales and Northern Ireland)
3) Significant differences regarding State surveillance of the public (Canada vs. US)
4) Differing standards and practices of Use of Force
5) Canadian Police have unique managerial structures
Hue and Cry
In early England, the requirement that able-bodied men assist the police in the pursuit and apprehension of law violators. Failure to do so could result in punishment of the “derelict citizen” often equal to that of the lawbreaker.
Frankpledge
Every free man between fifteen and sixty was required to enroll in a tything whose members were then responsible for reporting crimes and to respond to hue and cry.
Tythingman (2)
1) Elected community spokesman responsible for keeping order, considered the forerunner of the English police officer.
2) Had the authority to collect fines and demand bail.
The Statute of Winchester
A statute that made policing a community responsibility and called for night watches and the statute also allowed constables to arrest lawbreakers.
Justice of the Peace Act (3)
1) The act that centralized peacekeeping duties under justices of the peace appointed by the king.
2) The Justice of the peace replaced the shire-reeve.
3) This act subordinated the police to the judiciary and resulted in injustice and corruption.
The Emergence of Modern Policing (5)
1) Rural agrarian societies applied retribution against members that contravened social customs and folkways.
2) The increasing complexity of societies reduced the effectiveness of self-policing and the system of codified laws laid the foundation for centralized authority.
3) Civil unrest in the late 1700 and early 1800 spurred on by the Industrial Revolution, caused push back by the labour force who resisted the idea of a 24-hour, organized police force.
4) Sir Robert Peel attempted to establish a metropolitan police force but his advances were voted down seventeen times from 1822-1828.
5) Peels push for a full-time, unarmed police force was successful in 1829 and is embodied in the Metropolitan Police Act (bobbies/peelers)
When was the first organized police force established?
in England in the mid-1700s by Henry Fielding called the Bow Street Runners
What are Some features that made the Bow Street Runners distinct? (4)
1) Adequately paid (to lessen bribe taking)
2) Equipped with batons, handcuffs and uniforms
3) Delivered court testimony
4) Duty of patrol
In order to legitimize the new “bobbies” or “Peelers”, Sir Robert Peel outlined some of the benefits of having a centralized force. (7)
- Serve the interests of all citizens
- Prevent crime
- Be recruited from the working class
- Be recruited through a standardized recruiting process
- Receive professional training
- Play a role in establishing community police stations
- Engage in proactive policing
Peel also formulated several principals that serve as the basis for community policing. (9)
1) Prevent crime and disorder
2) Use force only when necessary
3) Perform duties in accordance with public approval
4) Maintain a relationship with the public based on the ideal that police are the public
5) Secure the cooperation of the public
6) Do not usurp the powers of the judiciary
7) Public cooperation decreases with physical force
8) Police efficiency is found in the absence of crime and disorder
9) Maintain public favour by remaining impartial
Policing developments in Upper Canada (2)
1) Appointment of high constables; unpaid constables within parish’s/township.
2) Similar to England
Policing developments in Lower Canada (2)
1) Justices of the Peace appointed constables;
2) rejection of French dominated policing model
Policing developments in the West (2)
1) First police force established in 1871;
2) followed the Irish Constabulary model
Policing developments in Nova Scotia/Newfoundland
*Captains of fishing vessels “fishing admirals” were appointed to fight crime and keep order
When municipal forces were finally established they generally had a three-part mandate:
1) Police conflict between ethnic groups and between labour and employers
2) Maintain moral standards e.g. alcohol, prostitution, and gambling
3) Apprehend criminals
as noted in the text readings, the officers’ duties also included:
dog catching, sanitation, firefighting and building inspector
municipal services were also heavily influenced by…
politics and were often used by politicians as a private army against opposition groups
The municipal services were also heavily influenced by politics and were often used by politicians as a private army against opposition groups. Note just a few significant occurrences: (3)
1) Toronto 1839-1860: twenty-six riots - almost all conflicts between rival political factions
2) Toronto 1870-1920: Toronto Police focused efforts on controlling “dangerous classes”
3) This historical period was also marked by the hiring of new officers with little to no requirements or training, instead the focus was on physical attributes.
Without requirements, save hefty thighs and being married, the municipal forces were not able to maintain a high moral standard nor were they particularly good at catching criminals. In fact, many departments were notoriously corrupt in what ways? (4)
1) bribe taking
2) protecting strikebreakers
3) officer alcohol abuse
4) gambling
The main purpose for the policing system introduced in Montreal was to protect:
settlement from the Iroquois
Which Canadian city appointed the first police constables:
Quebec
transition from modern to postmodern policing is marked by what core changes? (3)
1) restructuring and relocation of policing authority and responsibility
- For example, according to the Association of Municipalities Ontario (AMO) Policing Modernization Report (2015), police should prepare for the developing demographic shift that will accompany an aging population, resulting in changes to the nature and types of crime associated with an aging population.
2) re-conceptualization of public policing
- The AMO also discussed the use of lapel or body cameras on officers should be studied carefully from a cost-benefit analysis. This should include the broader policy and privacy implications for officers and members of the public. These have significant implications for the modern officer.
3) rationalization and commodification of public and private policing services
- the AMO discussed that independent research capacity on policing issues needs to be expanded to assist police services with evidence based decision making. Both police services and independent research institutes have a role to play.
Griffiths readings detail what 3 trends in policing?
1) the police, their services and their budgets are visible in almost every way possible, e.g. television, radio, social media, public debate, etc.
2) Policing is no longer monopolized by the public police, that is, the police created by government. Policing is now being widely offered by institutions other than the federal government, such as by private companies on a commercial basis and by communities on a volunteer basis.
3) The monopoly on policing, long held by the government, has been broken by the creation of a host of private and community-based agencies that prevent crime and deter criminality among other things.
some of the current trends in policing that are routinely a part of public discourse (3)
1) Trend I: Regulatory changes
2) Trend II: Pluralization/Collaborative Policing
3) Trend III: Budgetary/Technological Pressures
The concepts of tiered, collaborative and pluralization of police is presented on pg. 45 in Griffiths, there the authors consider the following: (5)
- Tiered Policing
- Collaborative policing
- Pluralization of police
- Private security practices
- Community policing
What have the authors identified as the driving forces behind restructuring?
(5)
1) fear of crime,
2) the inability of government to satisfy society’s longing for security,
3) the commodification of security,
4) the rise of mass private property, and
5) cultural individualism
What is meant by the pluralizing of policing? Has it made communities safer?
(5)
1) Policing – the visible agents of crime control not necessarily just the police.
2) New policing agents come paid and unpaid (volunteers in community).
3) Paid can be private security companies or directly hired by companies to work as security specialists.
4) Police no longer the primary crime deterrent presence in society.
5) Pluralization has made communities safer.
What do the authors suggest for police to be more effective? (3)
1) community policing.
2) Crime oriented policing and the hybrid:
3) order-maintenance policing
What do the authors warn are the pitfalls with pluralization regarding equity and democracy?
(2)
1) Pluralization favours institutions and individuals that are well-to-do.
2) Private security serves employers better than employees, owners better than patrons, and institutions better than individuals.
To complicate matters further, private security-the paid part of private policing-comes in two forms:
1) people employed by commercial companies who are hired on contract by others
2) people employed directly by companies to work as security specialists.
As noted above and throughout the second chapter of the text you have become familiar with the increasing cost of policing along with increasing budgetary constraints placed on police services. What has occurred as a result?
there is a movement toward civilianization of positions in polices services.
(civilianization of policing)
advances in technology have also significantly impacted traditional models of policing (2)
1) the telephone, the patrol car and the two-way radio made “fundamental changes” in how police services were delivered and were the basis for the professional model of police work;
2) policing became “reactive”, that is, when a citizen telephones the police, their services can react accordingly.
What four things have significantly impacted traditional policing?
1) civilianization of policing
2) Increasing role of technology
3) Globalization of police work
4) Canadian Warrior “Cop”
civilianization of policing
(3)
1) recent years has shown a dramatic increase in civilians holding “core” positions previously held by sworn members.
2) Police services have come to recognize that civilians can provide expertise that is not often available in the ranks of sworn officers.
3) Civilians also provide a thread of continuity in police services, within which sworn personnel are frequently moved between positions.
Other technological changes discussed include:
(6)
Computers (rather than the citizen oriented)
Centralized dispatch
Mobile Data Terminals
GPS
CED
Criminal Intelligence analysis
Warrior Cop (3)
1) There is a “creeping militarization” in Canada. Examples such as equipment, training and emphasis on para-military policing structures are used to make the point.
2) The concern is that militarization does not necessarily make communities safer, but instead drives a wedge between public and community.
3) It undermines the seven principals of policing originally laid out by that ever important Sir Robert Peel.
globalization (2)
1) the emergence of the global village, the increasing interdependence of the world’s nations, and the rapid development and spread of technology have created opportunities for new and more sophisticated forms of criminal activity.
2) Police services must now consider the world beyond their immediate jurisdictions and collaborate with other police organizations, both national and international.
the main themes that describe the developments of Canadian police work during the 20th Century (5)
1) changing the role of communications
2) Early introduction of computers
3) Comms and Computers *change the way police respond to calls
4) traditional policing model
5) civilian roles small
the main themes that describe the developments of Canadian police work during the 21th Century (5)
1) Introduction of ‘private policing’
2) changing economy; the disbanding of Long Gun registry
3) Mobile Command centers in police cruisers
4) Reactive to Proactive models*
5) Intelligence Analysis
the main themes that describe the developments of Canadian police work in the future (5)
1) Militarization of police
2) Video Surveillance of police
3) Proactive technology dispatching officers to hotspots prior to crime
4) Community/police meshing
5) Civilian roles grow significantly
Early Municipal Police
Largely headed up by community members, militias and the navy, they were ultimately deemed insufficient to meet the needs of increasingly urbanized industrialized society
Western Canada Policing (2)
1) Police forces in the west did not begin to emerge until the late 1800s.
2) Early police forces were modelled on the Royal Irish Constabulary and established in response to increases in violence and disorder that followed the discovery of gold.
Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) (3)
1) was the armed police force of the United Kingdom in Ireland from the early nineteenth century until 1922.
2) A separate civic police force, the unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police controlled the capital.
3) The RIC’s successful system of policing influenced the armed Canadian North-West Mounted Police (and its successor the RCMP) and the armed Royal Newfoundland Constabulary in Newfoundland.
Early Provincial Police (3)
1) After Confederation there was significant growth of the federal police force now known as the RCMP.
2) The constitution act of 1867 allowed the federal government to enact criminal law and procedures along with enforcement of laws.
3) The administration of justice was then delegated to the provinces. This resulted in provincial governments establishing law enforcement agencies, courts, and correctional institutions.
Federal Policing: The RCMP (3)
1) The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was founded in 1873.
2) It was a military-style police force also modelled on the Royal Irish Constabulary rather than on the urban model developed by Peel.
3) It has been suggested that the NWMP played a similar role to that of the Canadian Pacific Railway (e.g. to establish political and economic sovereignty) during the expansion of the Canadian west.
The NWMP would be responsible for: (5)
- preserving peace in the west
- establishing political and economic sovereignty
- protect against perceived threats of American Annexation
- settle indigenous lands
- protect Aboriginal people
In 1920 the NWMP became the RCMP and as a larger police force with broad powers they faced noteworthy issues: (6)
1) RCMP faced high rates of desertion
2) Significant resignation
3) Improper conduct by officers (severe isolation considered a main source)
4) Reported by critics as “scoundrels, scalawags and brainless, idle loafers”
5) Criticized for impeding on municipal policing
6) Conflict between municipal forces and RCMP resulted in members arresting each other.
Expansion and Organization of the RCMP (3)
1) The permanence of the mounted police was tacitly accepted by all parties by the early 20th century.
2) Once Alberta and Saskatchewan were created in 1905, the NWMP was, in effect, rented to the new provinces.
3) Agreements were signed under which the NWMP acted as provincial police.
The Responsibilities of the RCMP (3)
1) Work within diverse populations (Aboriginal and Inuit communities)
2) Early principal activities were enforcement of narcotics laws
3) Security and intelligence work (this stemmed from widespread public fear of subversion fueled by the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the Winnipeg General strike in 1919)
there are several documented cases of illegal activities and deception of the RCMP (4)
1) Surreptitious entry
2) Unsanctioned use of electronic surveillance
3) Illegal opening of mail
4) Maintaining files on 800,000+ Canadians
What led to the creation of Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS)? (2)
1) documented cases of illegal activities and deception of the RCMP
2) The detailed documentation of these findings discussed in the McDonald Commission (1980-1981) lead to the passage of Bill C-9 and the creation of CSIS
