Comparison Of Kin Policing And Nightwatch

There were several different forms of early policing with kin policing and nightwatch being two of the earliest styles. Kin policing was a style of enforcement where family members or tribes enforced the informal and customary rules of the group. Punishments meted out from this type of policing were brutal and tended to fall into the category of “an eye for an eye”. Nightwatch was a collection of citizens who patrolled at night monitoring the city for fires and other problems, eventually progressing into constable-nightwatch system of policing with the addition of sheriffs and constables. Not only was early policing voluntary, it was an unpopular venture and those who could afford it typically paid others to work in their place. Early