Historical Development of Policing - Essay Example

When the first Europeans arrived in this Promised Land, they found themselves face to face with a place that was not only richly abundant and magnanimously bountiful in terms of resources and opportunities but also replete with inhabitants and natural agencies that were not friendly towards their presence. Hence, early policing in the United States of America was a collective initiative, where every able-bodied person, be it the young or the adults, who could wield a weapon was expected to protect and defend the early communities.

The early American immigrants did everything that they could to protect themselves and their families and neighbors. During the colonial times, America adapted to the English style watch system. This adopted watch system became more organized and professional with the passage of time. Shire-reeves soon evolved into sheriffs (Lecture, 2012). The towns were protected by constables who were responsible for organizing and managing an assortment of watchmen (Lecture, 2012). The watchmen further strengthened the system by recruiting volunteers from the local citizenry.

The mayors depended a lot on marshals or constables for managing the local law and order issues and challenges. However, it does need to be mentioned that in the meantime the English were abandoning their watch systems to opt for more professional and specialized means of policing. The night watch system started in Boston in 1631, comprising some constables, night watchmen and citizen volunteers, which was perhaps the first organized policing system in the USA (Lecture, 2012). The 19th century ushered in widespread social and economic changes in the United States.

Industrial unrest and riots started to become a common feature all across the United States. During these times the policing system in the cities was under the local municipalities. The city administrators tried to respond to this industrial unrest through the already existing night watch machinery (Gaines & Miller, 2010). However, they soon realized that the old night watch system was inadequate to deal with these emerging social realities. Beginning with New York, very soon many of the American cities started to opt for paid full-time police personnel that were uniformed and armed with weapons and the requisite authority to manage the novel law and order challenges (Gaines & Miller, 2010).

This era also saw the emergence of state and federal police agencies (Gaines & Miller, 2010). During the initial decades of the 20th century, the policing system in America evinced a marked shift in the sense that policing began to be perceived as a vocation that required as much of brain and psychological understanding as arms and authority. In that sense it certainly was a progressive era in the American policing. This led to policing becoming more organized and focused, dealing primarily with the law and order issues, instead of a plethora of general civic problems (Gaines & Miller, 2010).

The citizenry pushed the political class to make the police force more professional by making laws aimed at discouraging corruption and nepotism in the police system. The twentieth century also witnessed the emergence of police unions dedicated to highlight the rights and privileges requisite to the police force (Gaines & Miller, 2010). The mid-20th century was marked by economic slowdown and large-scale unemployment leading to the