Study sheet: History of Policing

📋 Course Outline

1. Early English Policing
2. Colonial American Policing
3. American Police Professionalization
4. Vollmer and Police Reform
5. Diversity in Policing
6. Unrest and Changing Police Roles

📅 Key Dates

1. 1829The Metropolitan Police Act established London’s Metropolitan Police Force and replaced constables and night watchmen.
2. 1870sUnified police forces existed in most American cities as professionalism entered American policing.
3. 1908Vollmer established the Berkeley Police School; he later began offering courses at UC Berkeley in 1916.
4. 1964The Civil Rights Act was enacted during the period of unrest; the Voting Rights Act followed in 1965.
5. 1968The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act was enacted.

📖 1. Early English Policing

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Peelian principles : the philosophy of an ethical police force expressed in the “New Police Instructions”

★ Must-know

• The social units included:
  • borh
  • frankpledge
  • tithing
  • hundred

Further detail

• Other early policing roles included:
  • parish constables
  • shire reeves
  • sheriffs
  • watchmen
  • thief takers

💡 Memory Hook

Social units → local officers → Metropolitan Police

📖 2. Colonial American Policing

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Vigilantes : self-appointed distributors of justice who had no legal authority but sometimes filled law-enforcement gaps

★ Must-know

• Slave patrols regulated enslaved people’s behavior and pursued escapees, while the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 made aiding runaway slaves punishable.

📌 Colonial American policing resembled English systems, formalized policing positions, assigned responsibilities to colonial sheriffs, and remained largely reactive.

Further detail

📌 Colonial policing was strictly reactive, enforced laws selectively and unequally, and generated disagreement with laws and a lack of respect for police.

💡 Memory Hook

Vigilantes had no legal authority, whereas sheriffs held formal responsibilities

📖 3. American Police Professionalization

📝 Essential Points

• Professional American police forces were better paid and performed tasks that are not performed by police today, although problems remained despite the move toward professionalism.

💡 Memory Hook

Urban events and public opinion → unified, better-paid police forces

📖 4. Vollmer and Police Reform

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• August Vollmer : called the Father of American Policing, was elected marshal of Berkeley, California, in 1905 and advocated educated, trained, well-paid officers free from political influence

★ Must-know

• Vollmer outlawed the third degree and argued that police officers should function as social workers.

Further detail

• The technology and methods included: telephone boxes, radios, bicycles, vehicles, centralized records, modus operandi systems, substance analyses, screening methods for unsuitable police candidates

💡 Memory Hook

ETPF: Educated, Trained, Paid, Free from political influence

📖 5. Diversity in Policing

★ Must-know

• Criminal justice has historically been dominated by White men, which unnecessarily limits policing.

• In 2020, Black officers represented 11.6% of officers at the local level, while Hispanic officers represented 14.2%.

Further detail

• Women’s inclusion in policing met with hostility and involved differing responsibilities, while renewed focus on female police officers occurred in the 1960s.

• Asian Americans are underrepresented in policing, and data about Asian and LGBTQ police officers lacks details.

📖 6. Unrest and Changing Police Roles

★ Must-know

• Civil unrest in the 1960s included the emergence of the civil rights movement and concerns about excessive use of force by police.

📌 Since the 1980s, policing has remained controversial, but civil unrest has been reduced and officers’ working conditions have improved through changes including police unions and calls for community-connected roles.

Further detail

• Police dogs were used by Belgian police in 1899, introduced in New Jersey and New York City in 1907, and became increasingly popular during the 1950s and 1960s.

📌 Police unions bargained for and won greater benefits and salaries for officers, improving their working conditions.

💡 Memory Hook

Civil unrest → legislation → unions and community-oriented roles

📊 Synthesis Tables

Policing Models Across Periods

Period	Organization	Primary features
Early English	Social units and local roles	No regular formal police
Colonial America	Formal positions and informal vigilantes	Reactive and unequal enforcement
Professional American policing	Unified city police forces	Better pay and professionalization
Modern reform	Professional organizations and unions	Education, technology, benefits, and broader community roles