Trends In Policing Essay -- essays research papers fc

Since the founding of this country, to the wild west, and up to the present, the agenda of the policing bodies have been clear to uphold and enforce the polices of our society. Of itinerary the way they do this today had undergone changes from the first police forces of azoic America, law enforcement has seen trends come and go.Law enforcement is divided into three major eras throughout history. These eras are the policy-making era, the reform era and the community era. The political era that took place between 1840-1930 was characterized by five points, which was the authority was coming from politicians and the law, a broad social operate function, decentralized organization, an intimate relationship with the community, and the extensive use of foot patrol. The downside to the political era was that the police got its authority from the politics and the law, the close tie with politics pose as a problem.In New York, for example, the first chief of police could not dismiss officers under his command. The tenure of the chief was limited to one year. Consequently, any early New York cop who was solidly supported by his alderman and assistant alderman could disobey a police superior with virtual impunity. So while the British were pink slip bobbies left and right for things like showing up late for work, wearing disorderly uniforms, and behaving discourteously to citizens, American police were assaulting superior officers, refusing to go on patrol, extorting currency from prisoners, and releasing prisoners from custody of other officers...Klockars (1985, p. 42)Needless to say that corruption became a big problem in American law enforcement. Probably the biggest factor that underlined the problem of corruption during this era was the soils system, whose motto was, To the victor go the spoils. This resulted in gross political interference with policing. For example, the winning party was under the impression that its members should be tolerant from arre st and given special privileges in naming favorites for promotions and they assisted in canalizeing out personal vendettas against other political opponents. So what happened is that this system led to the politicians staffing the countrys police forces with incompetent people as rewards for support and fixing arrests, or making sure arrests were not made wh... ...ter, in the 1930s, August Vollmer and O.W. Wilson, two American police pioneers, go the goal of profSince the founding of this country, to the wild west, and up to the present, the agenda of the policing bodies have been clear to uphold and enforce the laws of our societyessionalizing law enforcement. Their efforts ushered in the second wave of major law enforcement reform. Standardization, specialization, synchronization, concentration, maximization, and centralization, dominated law enforcement during this era...The civil unrest of the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s was the impetus for the advocacy of the third wave of major law enforcement reform.The third wave is now. The question is, will it bury us or carry us boldly forward into the twenty-first century?Tafoya (1990, p. 15)Works CitedKlockars, C.B. The Idea of Police. Newbury Park, Calif. Sage Publications, 1985Roberg, R.R. and Kuykendall, J. Police and Society. Belmont, Calif. Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1993.Tafoya, W.L. The Future of Policing. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (January 1990) 13-17.