History of US Law Enforcement Essay

The criminal justice of United States system has three major units namely, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, the courts, constituted of attorneys and judges and the correction department, comprising of jails, prisons, probations, and paroles. Each of these three functions semi-independently, but they collectively complement the criminal justice system. Law enforcement primarily operates through governmental police agencies. This unit is mandated to investigate criminal activities, refer the probe findings to judicature and for the moment detain the suspects. They were also responsible for deterring criminal agencies and prevention of successful commissioning of crimes in progress. More duties consist of ensuring warrants and court orders are enforced. US law enforcement units have seen progressive evolvement in the application of personnel recruitment, equipment among other factors.

America's first law enforcement system was launched in Boston about three and half decades ago. In the early 16th century when the colonist arrived, the then ordinance allowed the appointment of constables. In 1631, the townspeople created a unit that conducted night patrols. The group was named the "watch" and consisted of a constable, six watchmen, and some volunteers. The 17th-century 'watch' was initially run by both voluntary and involuntary participation. It informed of fires, kept order, pursued suspected criminals and seized offenders of the law. Constables ensured good health and sanitary services and presented suspected people and deponents to judicature. In the colonies rural settlements, which were sparsely populated, the governor named a sheriff as the primary law enforcement figure. The sheriff served law-related documents, appeared in courts and collected taxes (Dunham et al. 2015). The sheriffs were paid according to the task they performed. In some instances, these obligations proved insecure.

The prior policing system took the form similar to the English one. It combined constables, watch operators and sheriffs in a local established police institution. Money incentives in some regions made apprehending criminals, not a priority. As the 1700s approached, settlement in towns increased causing a rise in coming up of new businesses premises creating work for the watch even more. Unprecedented social problems negatively affecting the law enforcement arose. Due to Mushrooming of taverns in port cities, unrestricted drunkenness, dispute, and whoring, police duties became harder and took a lot of time than anticipated. This saw lesser people volunteering to be part of the watch with others evading their responsibilities. Penalties were issued to participants who abandoned their tasks but only those who could not raise money to pay the fines suffered. To restrain this, certain cities together with towns launched paid watches. A directive was effected in Philadelphia in 1749 restructuring watch. As a result of the law, wardens were authorized to hire guards. The watchtowers were increased and were paid by taxpayers.

In spite of the above developments, the colonial law enforcement system still needed to make more changes. In the 19th century, at the time of the Industrial Revolution, the number of residential structures, factories, as well as population, markedly surged. For instance, New York population sprang from 33.000 in 1790 to 150,000 in 1830 (Dunham et al. 2015). These triggered more crimes, issues in the health sector of the public, ethnicity and social summed up by economic divisions and great disorder. Consequently, a need for a more efficient solution arose leading to what may be termed as new policing system. However, casual methods of policing went on even after the American Revolution.

The first department of United States unified municipal police came to the fore in the 1830s. In 1833, Philadelphia structured a self-governing police force. Boston launched the first American police force in 1838 comprising of independent night watch and day police. The Police Department of the New York City was established in1845. Chicago, NY, and Albany came up in 1851. Cincinnati and New Orleans formed theirs in 1853. Philadelphia followed in 1855, and in 1857, Baltimore, NJ, and Newark joined the list. In summary, all major U.S. cities had operational municipal police units in the 1880s.

These new forces were stronger, more centralized and designed to detect and deter crime from happening instead of taking reactive actions. They also shared same attributes. They had public support and active administrative forms. The Police officers got permanent employment doing away with volunteers and temporally case handlers. All police departments acquired indefinite and set regulations. Police chiefs chosen by political leaders headed the departments. Police recruitment was made regular. The new forces were made answerable to specific central government bodies.

The states in the South side of America took different policing way. The "Slave Patrol" marks the root of the modern network of police in the South. The initial conventional patrol for slaves was launched in 1704 in the colonies of Carolina (Dunham et al. 2015). These patrols were mandated to three significant obligations. First, run after, arrest and take back runaway slaves to respective possessors. Second, organize extreme fear situations to discourage rebellion by slaves. Thirdly, to ensure a system of discipline for slaves, bound to execution ignoring the law for violating any area rules. As a result of secession wars, the watchdog-style movements erupted in the present-day Police department of the South aiming to constrain liberated slaves. The slaves had been made laborers and were working in the agricultural caste system.

In the late 19th century political machines became the order of the day. Police commanders and those at the first ranks were therefore frequently selected for each sector area leaders in politics and who were the most owners of taverns or gangs that subdued voters. The police were used to harass opponents of a particular political party. They were also provided with payoffs to ignore illegal drinking prostitution and gambling. During prohibition, this situation worsened (Dunham et al. 2015). As a result, President Hoover in 1929 created the Wickersham Commission in 1929. The commission was to probe the level of effectiveness of law enforcement all over the nation. Eventually, the plan of police sectors was switched so as not to correlate with divisional political units. The push to make thoroughly professional started and were further boosted as the 20th century approached. Notable improvements and modernization of police units in America have been dynamic all through.

Conclusion

To sum up the transformation of law implementation in America, tracing from the early days to the current day, has been a long journey. Approach to law discharge has systematically changed to harmonize with current civilized America. In the present state, evolution in technology coupled with scientific and comprehensive research has played a significant role in improving efficiency and reliability of law enhancement systems. The US has introduced innovative techniques, equipment and training transforming the image and service delivery in the sector altogether. Today the dominions of enforcing the law are applied only in circumstances when there is the violation of the law, and a suspect must be pinpointed and arrested for significant incidences including robbery, murder or burglary.

References

Dunham, R. G., & Alpert, G. P. (2015). Critical issues in policing: Contemporary readings. Waveland Press.