Law enforcement is one of the significant components of the United States criminal justice system. The other two major parts are correctional centers and courts. Policing in the U.S. dates back to the mid-17 th century in the city of Boston, where they created a program known as the “Night Watch” (O’Connor & Shon, 2019). In the program, men watched over the town in shifts and without pay for any criminal activity. Other states followed suit, and by the mid-19 th century, Philadelphia instituted the police force. Due to the rapid industrialization and population growth, the U.S. developed police departments that were headed by sheriffs. In the late 19 th century, the then policing system stopped criminal activities from happening as opposed to the previous ones that reacted after something occurred. Until today, the policing in the U.S. has gone through several eras, and the first three were political, reform, and community era.
The changes in the policing system helped the officers in delivering their services effectively. The end of slavery and the tremendous growth of major cities such as New York due to the industrial revolution prompted the reform era of policing (Meese & Malcolm, 2017). The formulation and adoption of the Constitution led to the development of political systems. Politicians, such as the mayor, controlled the policing operation, which led to the development of the political era. Women were not recruited into the system, and politicians had the authority to regulate and issue orders to the policemen on duty (O’Connor & Shon, 2019). Implementation of the Civil Rights Act in 1875 led to all black policemen disappearing from the police force.
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Corruption and police brutality led to changes that ended the negativity and led to the formation of the Reforms Era. During the era, Chief August Vollmer brought tremendous reforms to the policing system. He helped police officers to understand the benefits of investigations after arresting offenders (O’Connor & Shon, 2019). He aimed at bringing diversity in the system and overcome the shortcomings of the previous era. However, the crime rate and restlessness increased during the reforms era, which led to civil rights movements. The level of discrimination, especially by the white police officers against the African Americans, led to mass incarceration and public outcry during the reforms era. The majority of the people were against the police regime, and even the police system felt that they had failed the people. They turned to the citizens for help in fixing the eras they had made, which led to the inception of the third era, the Community Era (Meese & Malcolm, 2017). The reformers at that time believed that crimes ranging from illegal drugs, robbery, and shootings did not develop overnight. Therefore, neighbors and the community played a crucial role in helping the police officers get to the root cause of the crimes.
People saw the importance of training police officers to enable them to approach crimes with a problem-oriented mindset. The federal government invested in the law enforcement and criminal justice system, which financed the reforms and introduced research and investigation as the key to solving criminal cases (Meese & Malcolm, 2017). However, the terrorism events at the start of the new millennium led to the development of the Homeland Security Era.
The changes in the United States’ policing system have led to improved public safety and reduced mass incarceration. Additionally, there is trust between the police officers and the communities which have been promoted by accountability and reduced corruption cases. However, the stringent laws formulated by the federal and state governments have encouraged excessive use of force and discrimination of African-Americans on the stop-and-frisk policies (Lum & Nagin, 2017). The reformers managed to develop a policing system that valued information and communication. Despite not having a national police department, communication improved security enforcement in the country and helped prevent major terrorist attacks on the citizens.
References
Lum, C., & Nagin, D. S. (2017). Reinventing American policing. Crime and justice , 46 (1), 339-393.
Meese, E., & Malcolm, J. (2017). Policing in America: Lessons from the past, opportunities for the future. Policing in America: Lessons from the Past, Opportunities for the Future , 1.
O’Connor, C. D., & Shon, P. C. (2019). Civilizing the police: Reconceptualising the role of the state in theories of American policing. Global Crime , 20 (1), 45-64.
