Free Essay Sample on Foundations of the Development and Functions of Police

Introduction

Such responsibilities as maintaining public order, enacting the law, safety, preventing, investigating, and detecting criminal activities are the policing. The policing function has significantly changed from what it was decades ago. As communities increased and informal socialization and social control structures such as the family, schools, and the church declined in effectiveness, police became ever more critical. Community Policing draws together police and residents to deter crime and address community problems (Miller, Wright, 2019). Police in the Neighbourhood means officers are part of the community. It helps police develop a better understanding of people's needs and helps people create greater public confidence.

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Adopted System

The United States adopted Anglo-Saxon common law from England and its civic responsibility system, sheriffs, constables, security guards, and stipendiary justice. Crime, protests, and other public disturbances became more prevalent as both communities became less rural and agrarian and more urban and industrialized.

The political period was in the 1840s through the 1930s. The officer selection process was very different for the mayor to choose the recruits from a list of names provided by each ward's alderman and tax assessors; the mayor then provided secret options for approval to the city council (O'Neill, 2019). Police protecting politicians' interests characterized American police's political age. Politics were played to such a degree that even non-ranking patrol officers took advantage of political allies to gain promotions, preferred assignments, and move.

They were motivated by the interests of a community in enhancing their quality of life, and political power was why they were so interested in their neighborhood that it was considered curbside justice.

The shortcomings were familiarity with the group, political closeness, and police discrimination against immigrants, race, and racial minorities. The age of the change was from the s-1980 of 1930. The reform age of policing America was strongly influenced by the Democratic political movement, which stressed the reforming government and controlling society to improve citizens' living conditions.

Police and Civil Service

Police and civil service structures were developed during the reform period reformers aimed to oppose political interference and reduce patronage and ward biases in recruiting and terminating police officers.

August Vollmer was among the reform period's citizens who contributed. Vollmer established police officers' professionalism. Professionalism meant a mixture of managerial performance and technical maturity and an emphasis on the battle against crime.

Education at police academy varies from state to state, and from agency to agency. There is no uniform national curriculum, but the state may direct agencies in designing training programs.

Every state has a Standards and Training Commission on Peace Officers (POST) or similar body, which sets minimum hiring standards for law enforcement officers, sets minimum education and training standards, and acts as the accreditation or licensing authority for lawmakers.

Political Age

The political age of policing has given rise to an increase in the number of professionally trained cops. One of the key reasons for this trend is that there was no supervisory body overseeing the police operations. The well-connected individuals would dominate the police, with political figures nominating their backers as well.

Organized crime existed because police ignored implementing legislation that would harm the political supporters, whereby rank and file favoritism and bigotry were widespread. On the other hand, the reform age policing was a system that required information to educate the police of whether there was better efficiency.

Because there were no minimum standards for hiring police officers, political considerations were more important, and this, combined with poor oversight, was insufficient to deal with illegal activities.

Thanks to the desire to deter crime rather than merely arresting criminals, the reform period differed from the police head. Democratic changes have had a positive effect on this, leading to a more centralized and non-partisan police department, unlike the political period in which political preferences were essential than meritocracy.

The implementation of minimum requirements in the reform period means that, unlike before, there has been more oversight in the recruiting process. The police may be recruited, fired, or disciplined based on their results. The political ear policing was not well structured with the police patrolling on foot, but patrol cars were given to the police during the reform period.

Distinctions

Another distinction is that the police are concerned not only with neighborhood concerns but also with the war against crime and the impartial application of laws. Police officers need to learn the expertise and experience of police trainees in criminal law and use force or not, as they depend on analytical abilities to make decisions (Vielehr, 2019).

The argument for guns and self-defense training is that when they do meet aggressive people, it trains the police officers to deal with real-life circumstances. That's because the police officers face circumstances where they will need to arrest or deter a violent person's actions while protecting other people's lives.

Police officers are also chasing offenders, and they need to make the best choices when driving the defense, investigating driving, and making traffic stops at risk. Police officers need to be physically fit and sound-minded to manage dangerous situations and make sound decisions when dealing with various circumstances that need their input on the analysis of the crime scene.

Some metropolitan areas have high crime rates, and when patrolling these places, the police should carefully assess the situations. In any case, police officers who are logical thinkers are best suited to cope with diverse circumstances and conduct functions in management offices.

Even causing difficulties was the decentralization of police forces into local cities. This did not provide effective regulation of crime, well-policed towns, or reliable public services. Though crime did not follow jurisdictional boundaries, police forces were required to do so; officers' policing powers were limited to the jurisdiction in which they were patrolling and were not transferable to other regions.

Therefore, no police force had authority over the western American frontier, given that violence was widespread there. Another concern was that there was no formal policy in the US, as there was in England until Peel 's Principles were implemented.

During the nineteenth century, US metropolitan police officers' authority stemmed from local political control, but their ability to achieve residents' support most frequently relied on individual officers' skills.

Consequently, American police forces developed a professional policing style that permitted officers to be more discreet than the London bobby used. This method of policing contributed to the development of the "tough street cop" stereotype who addressed all issues on his beat by administering physical discipline, a depiction that still dominates the mythology of police and media representations (Carter, 2019).

In this time, however, American policing was marked by corruption, inefficiency, political intervention, and biased federal agents. In reaction to waves of intra-jurisdictional violence in the latter half of the 19th century, states passed legislation granting certain business companies the right to create their private police forces or contract with existing police agencies. Pennsylvania's Coal and Iron Police was a corporate police force that later became known for its anti-labor vigilance.

Conclusion

In conclusion, having a law enforcement-only framework for crime-fighting will cultivate an attitude of us-against-them, both in police and the members of the general public they represent. This promotes engagement and responsibility on behalf of both stakeholders and helps build trust among officers and the general public as police look to work within their neighborhood to solve issues and combat crime together. Besides, community-police approaches reduce the perception of disruptive conduct by individuals and increase the satisfaction of people.

References

Miller, M. L., & Wright, R. F. (2019). Criminal Procedures: The Police. Aspen Publishers.

O'Neill, M. (2019). Police community support officers: cultures and identities within pluralized policing. Oxford University Press.

Carter, T. (2019). Police on a Pedestal: Responsible Policing in a Culture of Worship. ABC-CLIO.

Vielehr, P. S. (2019). Racial Bias in Police Officers’ Discretionary Search Decisions and Associated Community Mental Health Consequences: Evidence from Nashville, Tennessee (Doctoral dissertation, Vanderbilt University).

Washington, K. M. (2020). Crime Reporting through Social Media: Potential Opportunities in Community Policing (Doctoral dissertation, DePaul University).