The Three Eras Of Policing

This chapter covers the history, different agencies, requirements, police subculture, functions, organization of the agencies, and policy of policing. Policing in the United States came from England where different eras of policing came about and thus created policing in its own way. The four eras are the Colonial Era and the Early Republic, the Political Era, the Professional Model Era, and the most recent he Community Policing Era. American policing is only seen as the three eras of the Political Era, Professional Era, and the Community Era but these three eras only apply to the Northeast of the United Sates and doesn’t include all other areas. This is still a fighting concept of historically what eras are considered part of American policing …show more content…
Each agency has their own function to come together in order to protect the community. In order to take part in policing, one must follow certain requirements. These requirements are not merely impossible because law enforcement wants the community to know that anyone could be a part of law enforcement. The requirements are be a U.S citizen, be at least 18 years of age to be a police officer but other agencies depend on different ages, have a high school diploma, valid driver’s license, pass the physical and health examinations including a urinalysis test, pass a background investigation along with a polygraph, and take a written test to demonstrate literacy. Now more than ever women and minorities are becoming part of law enforcement. It is encouraged for minorities to become a part of law enforcement because we want to be a more diverse community and show the citizens that law enforcement is culturally …show more content…
Wilson found in a study that public expectations affect the different departments for different styles of policing. He described three different types of policing: watchmen, legalistic, and service. The watchmen style is usually focused on maintenance and is informal. As long as there is order, the police ignore minor violations and focus on arrests of blatant crimes and when there is no order or can’t be maintained. Usually those in the community of different racial and ethnic backgrounds would like to be treated the same. A legalistic style is more of a professional aspect and is more emphasized on law enforcement. The community expects police to make arrests for all crimes including misdemeanors, deal with juveniles, and enforce traffic laws. Although arrests and tickets aren’t enacted on certain groups, it is portrayed on the community as such. The last style is a service style. This is more of a style that occurs in middle-class communities and residents feel that they should be receiving individual treatment. Burglaries and assaults are taken seriously whereas other crimes are let go with a warning. The police are expected to keep the neighborhood safe and not let the neighborhood seem anything less than a middle-class