| Early America's roots in governmental institutions, | | | | 1844, NYC maintained two police forces; one unit |
| ironically stem from Great Britain. This encluded law | | | | working day, and one graveyard shift. During this |
| enforcement. England's law enforcement can be | | | | period, police departments were headed by police |
| traced to before 1066; the year of the Normandy | | | | chiefs, appointed and accountable to political bosses |
| invasion of Britain. | | | | eerily similar to what was seen in the black and white |
| When many early Europeans first arrived to our | | | | police movies of the 1940's and 1950's. Corruption ran |
| shores, they were surprised at the lack of organized | | | | rampant. |
| law enforcement. It was more or less, "the stronger | | | | Some of the law enforcement we inherited from |
| were policed themselves and their communities". | | | | England was "The Sheriff System". (Remember the |
| After "things" got fairly well settled the job of | | | | infamous Sheriff of Nottingham from Robin Hood?) |
| maintaining order in the new colonies was given to | | | | As America moved west, in most frontier towns the |
| Justices of the Peace, and one might see "culprits" in | | | | sheriff was the chief law enforcement official. He |
| pillories or stocks, paying their debt to society. But, | | | | could be recruited from the local community, or more |
| as colonies changed into towns and towns into cities, | | | | often a Sheriff was selected by his reputation, and |
| the Justice of the Peace system was not enough. It | | | | the more dismal the rep, the more likely he was to |
| became time for an organized, and for salaried | | | | be elected. The Sheriff System exists in America |
| policemen (there were no policewomen at the time). | | | | today, but, on a more formal and politicized basis. |
| In the early 1600's, Boston launched Night Watch, | | | | 21st Century law enforcement agencies and |
| which idea worked reasonably well as long as the | | | | departments are highly specialized organizations, with |
| area remained a rural and agrarian one. New York | | | | ongoing training to prepare to meet a great variety |
| City established the Shout and Rattle Watch in 1651, | | | | of problems and situations. We have federal, state, |
| but, by 1705 Philadelphia found it necessary to divide | | | | county, and municipal police. We no longer live in our |
| the city into ten patrol areas. This was really the first | | | | parent's world. There are dangers we face daily they |
| stab in America at "organized law enforcement" (for | | | | couldn't have imagined. There is a fine line between |
| what it was worth). | | | | real life and the Internet. We remain dependent on |
| Sometime between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, | | | | peace officers from every organization for our" life, |
| the more than rapid growth of population and | | | | liberty and the pursuit of happiness and to enforce |
| industrialization in America mandated the development | | | | the vision of our founding fathers when they penned |
| of municipal police departments. In 1833, Philadelphia | | | | that brilliant document, the U.S. Constitution. |
| organized an independent, 24/7 police squad. . In | | | | |