Chapter 5: Policing History and Structure

Direct Patrol

Is a proactive law enforcement method that addresses criminal activity within defined areas. This type of patrol is designed to prevent crime before it begins.

Statute of Winchester

A law, written in 1285, that created a watch and ward system in English cities and towns and that codified early police practices.

Comes Stabuli

A nonuniformed mounted law enforcement officer of medieval England. Early police forces were small and relatively unorganized but made effective use of local resources in the formation of posses, the pursuit of offenders, and the like.

The New Police

A police force formed in 1829 under the command of Sir Robert Peel. It became the model for modern day. The London Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), also known as the new police or more simply the Met, soon became a model for police forces around the world. The new police were not immediately well received.

Summary:

American police departments owe a historical legacy to Sir Robert Peel and the London Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). Although law enforcement efforts in the United States were based to some degree on the British experience, the unique character of the American frontier led to the growth of a decentralized form of policing throughout the United States. ● Police agencies in the United States function to enforce the statutes created by lawmaking bodies, and differing types and levels of legislative authority are reflected in the diversity of police forces in our country today. Consequently, American policing presents a complex picture that is structured along federal, state, and local lines. ● Dozens of federal law enforcement agencies are distributed among 14 U.S. government departments and 28 non-departmental entities, and each federal agency empowered by Congress to enforce specific statutes has its own enforcement arm. The FBI may be the most famous law enforcement agency in the country and in the world. The mission of the FBI is to protect and defend the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats, to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and to provide leadership and criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal, and international agencies and partners. ● State law enforcement agencies have numerous functions, including assisting local law enforcement departments in criminal investigations when asked to do so, operating centralized identification bureaus, maintaining a centralized criminal records repository, patrolling the state's highways, and providing select training for municipal and county officers. State law enforcement agencies are usually organized after one of two models. In the first, a centralized model, the tasks of major criminal investigations are combined with the patrol of state highways. The second state model, the decentralized model, draws a clear distinction between traffic enforcement on state highways and other state-level law enforcement functions by creating at least two separate agencies. ● Local police agencies represent a third level of law enforcement activity in the United States. They encompass a wide variety of agencies, including municipal police departments, rural sheriff's departments, and specialized groups like campus police and transit police. ● Private protective services constitute another level of law enforcement. Whereas public police are employed by the government and enforce public laws, private security personnel work for corporate or private employers and secure private interests. Private security personnel outnumber public law enforcement officers in the United States by nearly three to one, and private agencies provide tailored protective services funded by the guarded organization rather than by taxpayers.

Bow Street Runners

An early English police unit formed under the leadership of Henry Fielding, magistrate of the Bow Street region of London.

The Night Watch

An early form of police patrol in English cities and towns

Private Protective Services

An independent or proprietary commercial organization that provides protective services to employers on a contractual basis.

Bobbies

British police force whose primary goal was the prevention of crime. Named after Sir Robert Peel, who introduced the legislation that created the force.

Evidence-based practice

Crime-fighting strategies that have been scientifically tested and are based on social science research.

Wickersham Commission

The National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement. In 1931, the commission issued a report stating that Prohibition was unenforceable and carried a great potential for police corruption.

Vigilantism

The act of taking the law into one's own hands.

Scientific police management

The application of social science techniques to the study of police administration for the purpose of increasing effectiveness, reducing the frequency of citizen complaints, and enhancing the efficient use of available resources.

Kansas City Experiment

The first large-scale scientific study of law enforcement practices. Sponsored by the Police Foundation, it focused on the practice of preventive patrol. Five of these "beats" were patrolled in the usual fashion. In another group of five beats, patrol activities were doubled. The final third of the beats received a novel treatment indeed: No patrols were assigned to them, and no uniformed officers entered that part of the city unless they were called. The program was kept secret, and citizens were unaware of the dif- ference between the patrolled and unpatrolled parts of the cit

Sheriff's Department

The highest law enforcement position in a county, providing police services to county residents

Municipal police department

a police force that enforces laws and maintains peace within a specified city or municipality.