American Policing History

The history of American policing can be traced back to early English society. During the earlier years, England had no regular police force. People living in villages had to scatter throughout the countryside and were responsible for giving aid to neighbors and protect the settlement from thieves and marauders. The pledge system these villagers used were called tithing’s. Tithing’s were people grouped together into ten families and were responsible for policing their own minor problems such as disturbances, fires, and other threats. When their was trouble, the leader of the tithing’s, the “tithingmen” is expected to make a hue and cry to assemble his helpers and warn the village. Ten tithings were grouped together into hundreds, which are supervised …show more content…
It was not long that New York founded it’s first police department in 1944, and Philadelphia in 1854. The police departments replaced the watch system and relegated constables and sheriffs to serving court orders and running jails. According to Dr. Gary Potter’s article on “History of Policing in the United States” these modern police organization shared similar characteristics, which were: they were publicly supported and bureaucratic in form, police officers were full-time employers, not community volunteers or case-by-case fee retainers, departments had permanent and fixed rules and procedures, and employment as a police officer was continuous, and police departments were accountable to a central government …show more content…
Eric Meade’s article on the future of law enforcement states, “our perspectives and behaviors relative to crime and justice are in formed by larger changes taking place around us socially, technologically, environmentally, economically, and politically.” Demographics will likely play an important factor in law enforcement as the population of Hispanics and African-Americans will continue to rise and non-Hispanic whites will shrink and likely become the minority. The demographics will have a major rule as the tension between law enforcement and minority groups such as African-Americans and Hispanics will likely fade. Technology will also play a major role in the future as it will continue to advance and police departments will have advanced equipment. The future of technology will have a factor on law enforcement ability to stop crime in the local areas. Economically, the recession in the United States will likely rise for the next several years. Unemployment on the rise, crime will likely rise again. The economic crisis will cause budget cuts on agencies leading officers to getting paid less for doing more work. Politically, the criminal justice system will change the face of America. As both the government and law enforcement will come up with ways to not only decrease crime nationally but also internationally such as