Introduction

Policing in America traces its roots to England, beginning in the ninth century with the mutual pledge system and progressing to the thief-takers of the seventeenth century. Sir Robert Peel is credited with organizing the first police department in London, England. American policing began during the colonial period, using the English model with constables by day and watchmen at night. Boston was first to create an organized police department in 1838 followed by New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, New Orleans, Cincinnati, Baltimore, and Newark. Policing on the American frontier was scarce.                        

Police professionalization began in the early part of the twentieth century and continued through the turbulent 1960s and 1970s.  This struggle continues as local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies attempt to restructure themselves to manage the affairs of the new millennium. Clearly, the twenty-first century promises to be another turbulent and challenging time for police.

Policing and law enforcement in the United States is based from a viewpoint of local control, which accounts for the large number of police and law enforcement agencies, including a myriad of local, state, and federal. (A general outline will be presented.) Also part of U.S. policing is the large private security industry, whose role is valuable in supplementing the limitations of public law enforcement.

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• describe the history of policing and how the U.S. model developed from the English model;

• outline the progression from early American policing to present-day policing;

• describe the many local, state, and federal policing and law enforcement agencies in the United States;

• list the breadth of private security in the U.S. and its various functions.