Essay On Policing And Policing

Throughout history policing and the policing methodology have been publicized and scrutinized and given negative stigmas in media. Police were meant to protect and service, but in some cases they use their power for personal satisfaction. In this paper, I will be covering the history of policing, the Medias’ depiction of police and also the ethics in policing.

In the 19th Century, British policing system was, for the most part, highly centralized because virtually all police departments and other law enforcement agencies were at least partially controlled by the national government. The origins of modern American policing can be directly linked to England. The American policing system was, for the most part, highly decentralized because virtually all police departments and other law enforcement agencies were controlled by the local ward bosses and or other neighborhood political leaders. Policing in the United States encountered its most serious crisis in the 19th Century.

In 1829, the London Metropolitan Police Act established a full time, uniformed police force, with primary purpose of patrolling the city, or Preventive Policing. Sir Robert Peel brought forth legislation in the British Parliament setting out the terms of a police force which was to operate within the City of London. At the time, London was besieged by criminal elements and the safety of many citizens was uncertain. Pickpocketing, gambling and theft, along with countless other crimes, were commonplace.

Peel's plan was the separation of policing and the judiciary. Peel and law reformers felt that the police should be responsible for one facet of the law, up to the prosecution phase, while the trial, conviction and punishment phase should place are in the hands ...

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... to examine criminal justice issues.

The creation of the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, massive funding for higher education for police, and the development of “community policing,” an egalitarian model that differed significantly from the hierarchical and detached practice of “professional policing” developed in the 1920s. Such changes accompanied in ongoing reform during the 1970s, influenced by a new generation of college-educated police chiefs, the formation of new reform groups such as the Police Foundation and the Police Executive Research Forum, and research into the effectiveness of criminal justice practices.

The criminal justice system remains imperfect. Racial discrimination, violations of citizen rights, and corruption is ample. Racial profiling, sentencing disparities, pockets of corruption, and unjustified killings remain major concerns.