The (PSP) Pennsylvania State Police was the model for the (DSP) Delaware State Police - Research Paper Example

The labor struggles related to mines and steel mills were the initial reason that Pennsylvania decided to organize an official police force with statewide jurisdiction during the early 1900s. (PSP-HEMC, 2011) As the Pennsylvania State Police Historical, Educational and Memorial Center writes in their history of the force: “The turning point came in 1902 with what became known as The Great Anthracite Strike. It began May 15 and lasted until October 23. The violence disrupted the peace of seven counties and caused a nationwide coal shortage, driving up the price of anthracite coal.

The strike did not end until President Theodore Roosevelt intervened. During the strike's aftermath, it was finally recognized that peace and order should be maintained by regularly appointed and responsible officers employed by the public. This led to the formation of the Pennsylvania State Police.” (PSP-HEMC, 2011) Initially there was fear among organized labor and other liberal parts of society that the Pennsylvania State Police force would be used as “a private army,” and because of this the initial force was limited to around 225 men divided into four divisions and tasked with the security of the state.

(PSP-HEMC, 2011) These four initial divisions were related to the geographical areas: Troop A, Greensburg Troop B,. Wilkes­Barre (later moved to Wyoming) Troop C, Reading Troop D, Punxsutawney . The historical society also reports that the Pennsylvania State Police force was originally limited to unmarried men, and this continued until after WWII. (PSP-HEMC, 2011) The four troop divisions were commanded by a Police Superintendent and under the authority of the Governor of the State of Pennsylvania.

Within 20 years of its founding, the size of the PSP doubled due to the need for police with the increasing population and modernization of the country. In 1920, the PSP instituted a Police Training Academy and bought a number of motorcycles for the officers to use in policing the long distances of the districts. These characteristics can be seen as identifying the important aspects of the Pennsylvania State Police: The use of uniforms, badges, weapons, & other symbols of authority similar to the Army.

The use of military organization and command structures within the police force. The jurisdictional recognition of authority and the limitation of powers to a district. The use of training academies to recruit and drill members in the standards of the group. The use of motorcycles and motor vehicles to patrol the area the force is tasked to enforce. In viewing these characteristics as fundamental to the model on which the Pennsylvania State Police force was formed and operated, it can be seen how other states modeled their own police forces on this same pattern during the early part of the 20th century.

Pennsylvania’s political and cultural influence was stronger over the rest of the country during that era than it is now, with the wealth of steel and mining generating swift economic growth and population expansion. Other states looked to Pennsylvania for leadership and the labor struggles there would influence the union movement in other parts of the country as well. Mines and factories had used Pinkertons as a type of organized private police force to combat organized labor strikes and riots, but as the economic interests of the industrialists were ingrained in the political authority of the governor, they could also trust the State to protect their capital