Policing Then And Now

The history of policing can be traced back a couple of thousand years, when there were no rules, a lot of conflict and no specific structure on what is right or wrong. Some of the laws that were enforced were done so in the name of religion or politics; the outcomes of some of those punishments were cruel and callous. Before policing was established, your everyday citizens took the law into their own hands (Grant and Terry, 2017). Policing back then was done by your community and if they felt you were guilty, you were punished. Eventually, America began to establish its own policing system, modeling after the English. Around the 1600s, the city of Boston established the first system of law enforcement in the 13 colonies; they called it the "night watch”. The officers that were a part of this were not paid and only did this job part-time. It was not until fifty years later that these officers were hired on as full time and were paid a salary (Waters & Doll, 2013).
In time, almost all the major cities in the United States had a police force. As the years went by, more modernization of the police forces were immerging with new technology: the introduction of the radio, squad cars, weapons, and computers to name a few
Sir Robert Peel and his commissioners, during the time the police force was put together had established nine principles because he felt policing should not be military based in a Democratic society. Those principles remain to be a very crucial and helped establish a foundation for what police agencies needed to form a better police force today. These principles are still practiced today, obviously modified to these times. Based on Sir Robert Peel’s principles, he wanted to ensure these that enforced the laws provided fairness to all citizens and that they felt safe around those who swore to protect