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Police History

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Police History
Stephen Turner
03/24/2013
CJA/214
Shawn R. Kehoe

Through the history of policing, law enforcement has adapted and overcome major obstacles to be at the level they are today. The very first officers on the streets carried no radios, didn’t have vehicles to drive around, carried no weapon, and had very little, if any professional training (Grant and Terry, 2012). If the history of policing is known it can help better understand where we’re at today and learn from the mistakes that were made previously. The history of policing will help us better understand why certain negative situations still remain in law enforcement although many have been through multiple reforms to correct the problem (Miller, 2000). One man, Sir Robert Peel is responsible for the direction of modern day policing and started the first modern police force. Sir Robert Peel established the London Metropolitan Police Force based out of Scotland Yard. This force was the first recognized modern day police force in history. Before 1829 policing was simply citizens with no training or equipment trying to attain order in their town. With population growth and urbanization this old style of policing quickly fell apart and Sir Robert Peel introduced the first police force (Grant and Terry, 2012). His focus was on crime prevention, being proactive in law enforcement rather than reactive. Sir Robert Peel developed the Peelian principles which were used to define an ethical police force (Grant and Terry, 2012). These principles are what policing was and still is based off of. Peel measured the true effectiveness of a police force not by how many arrests were made but by the absence of criminal conduct. Peel stressed that although there is a police force they are members of the public as well and are sworn to protect and serve (Grant and Terry, 2012). Peels philosophies were used

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