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Police History

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Police History
CJA/214
September 9, 2013

Police History Policing inside of the United States has gone through many changes during the course of history. The original policing system in the United States was the model brought over from England by the early English settlers. Many of the names used for various positions in the law enforcement world were taken from this English policing structure. Through trial and error, and adjustments made because of public demands the current modern day policing model has created. Police models have always been a reflection of the people it represents or the people that control the government. In a democratic nation the power comes from the people therefore the United States policing model is a direct reflection of the people of the United States.
Watch and Ward The English settlers brought with them a system of policing referred to as the watch and ward system. This system was generally not a complicated one because it relied on the citizens themselves to regulate each other and keep their behaviors within the community’s norms. It did not work well inside of communities that were multicultural because the different cultures may not share the same norms. In this policing system there was no formal training and there were no paid employees performing a function. Since there were paid employees there were no such thing investigators, therefore there were no investigations. The watch and ward system was driven by the civic duties and moral obligations of the people to keep the community a safe place to live.
Sir Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel was a man born in England on February 5, 1788. He was responsible for the reform that happened to the policing model in England in the early 1800’s. The police force that Sir Robert Peel created was based on nine principles: * The police force’s basic mission is to

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