Introduction

Policing has always been a form of the criminal justice system. Dating back to early civilization, people have always wanted some form of protection over themselves and their belongings. Policing arose as a means of social control, subduing Indians through violence, and watching over slaves to prevent them from escaping and causing a riot. Before the 1830’s, only watchman existed as a form of protection. It wasn’t until crime began to grow around the 1861 when cities began to establish police forces to fight crime. With crime and social problems evolving, the United States developed levels of policing.

Policing comes in three stages of development. The first stage of policing is when the entire community share responsibility equally in contributing to the protection of the citizens and keeping order in the community. This stage is called informal policing. The second stage of policing is when the functions of the police are assigned to a specific part of the community or citizens. This form is called transitional policing. The third stage is called formal policing. Formal policing is when certain members of society take an oath to protect and keep order of the community. As society evolves, policing has gone from informal to formal due to the society going from having beliefs and values similar to society being dependent upon social control. As a result, there was a little need for formal policing in early civilization because the community did the policing. We are in a time where formal policing is needed to ensure there is public order and safety.

Due to the influence that society has on policing, it has been broken up into local, state, and federal levels. Each level of policing has different functions and perspectives and work at different levels. As policing moves from local to federal, the responsibilities and