Political Era Of Policing

The core principles of american law enforcement came from the english common law which was brought over from great britain to the 13 colonies. The english common law was derived from centuries of independent judges relying upon a library of previous cases to make their ruling. Each time a new case was encountered the judge's decision was written for other judges to use. After centuries of this the thousands of cases used were referred to as common law. The political era of policing (1840-1920) was driven by changes in technology and political reform. For the first half of the political era police officers were limited to patrolling on foot. THis led to officers being more involved in the community by doing tasks such as picking up trash and

By the time the 1960s had arrived the baby boomers had arrived at the age of 25-30, due to this crime began a rapid climb and the need for professional officers was at an all time high. This ushered in the professional era of policing. Officers were encouraged to function and behave in a strict, legalistic fashion. As police departments moved forward in the shift toward this professional era, the personality of the individual officer was no longer emphasized, and officers became cogs in the larger police organization. Officer-level attitudes and values during the reform era were significantly influenced by the shift to professionalism. As police agencies implemented a quasi-military model of policing through the 1940s and 1950s, the individuals who were drawn to policing began to reflect these ideals. More and more police were ex-military

Officers today patrol in their cruisers looking for violations and illegal activity. They also follow up on on-going investigations and regulate traffic. The main purpose of law enforcement is to keep the peace and make sure that everyone remains equal. The purpose of law enforcement really hasn’t changed all that much. For example one of the laws from the 12 tablets of ancient rome it says “One who has confessed a debt, or against whom judgment has been pronounced, shall have thirty days to pay it in. After that forcible seizure of his person is allowed.” This law still stands, when someone is charged they have a limited amount of time to repay the debt or return to court and if they don’t do so, they would be arrested.Many of ancient Rome’s laws shaped the laws of today. There was one law on the twelve tablets that said “If anyone summons a man before the magistrate, he must go”. In the United States today if you are issued a summons in court, you have to go. And if you don't make it troubles coming your way. There's another law that states “Putting to death of any man, whosoever he might be unconvicted is forbidden.” So today this law still stands, no matter what it's against the law in the United States to kill someone who wasn't legally sentenced to