Hi everyone! As I mentioned briefly in the last post, this week I will be addressing the history of policing in the U.S., the connection of that to modern policing, and issues with the systems that are currently in place. Most of this information will be from Chapter 5 of the textbook Introduction to Criminal Justice, by Kenneth J. Peak and Tamara D. Madensen-Herold. I provided a link to the online textbook, but it can only be accessed if you have bought the textbook (I included the link purely for credit/informational purposes; don’t go buying the textbook or anything).
As for the history of policing, the earlier eras of this occupation were characterized by immense corruption and disorganization. First, the Political Era of policing stretched from the 1840s to the 1930s. In 1844, New York state legislature established a full-time preventive police force for New York City as a result of all the crime happening there. However, at this time, politics was a heavy factor in determining which people could become part of the police force. Politicians had the freedom to back whatever potential applicants they wanted to, and knowing or being associated with a politician put applicants in a higher position on the list of recruits.
Secondly, there was the reform era, which lasted from the 1930s to the 1980s. This era was an attempt to reject political involvement in the police, and it was also characterized by an increase in the “crime fighter” image of policing. A greater emphasis was placed on numbers and statistics (such as arrests, citations, and response times) for tracking police progress. Formal police schools were developed, and improvements were made to the overall police organization. This era was the start to reducing police corruption, but there were still many issues.
Finally came the community era, which has lasted from the 1980s to the present day. In this era, more emphasis is being placed on practicing community policing and problem solving. Officers have been retrained to work with the community to solve problems, by looking at underlying causes and developing tailored responses to them. Currently in policing, the problem is no longer really related to organization; it is about implicit bias that comes with the nature of police work.
As we can see based on the history and organization of police, the roles of policing in society have changed over time with the development of different strategies and approaches. As a result, the current state of policing is actually an improvement from what it was before. There is obviously a lot more work to be done, with corruption and bias being ever present, but today’s community era in policing has seen major improvements in overall organization, minimization of corruption, and approaches and responses to fighting crime.
A major point of tension between the police and the community today is how policing involves protecting the community while also keeping themselves safe, but methods of doing this are often biased by nature. What I mean by this is that police have a responsibility to protect citizens first and themselves second, and they protect citizens and themselves by staying vigilant and keeping an eye out for suspicious characters or behavior **this is where I get into tricky/controversial territory, so bear with me**. This sometimes means that police utilize racial profiling. Statistically, African Americans are disproportionately represented in committing violent crimes, compared to their percentage of the population. This means that generally, African Americans commit a higher percentage of violent crime compared to their percentage in the population. According to a report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2018, African Americans represented 12.5% of the population, but they were responsible for 33% of the nonfatal violent crimes. On the other hand, white people were underrepresented in the percentage of nonfatal violent crimes compared to their population (45.9% compared to 60.4%). You would expect the percentage of population to be proportionate to the amount of violent crime committed, but that is not the case here.
Therefore, it may be relatively understandable why police search, seize, and arrest black people at higher rates (compared to their populations) than white people. It is merely because statistics show higher proportions of violence for black people, and therefore, police have a responsibility to be vigilant and proactive to protect everyone. I am not saying that it is necessarily right to racially profile people, because in instances where there is no clear sign of danger or threat, there obviously is no reason to do so. However, if there is a perceived threat or an appearance of suspicious behavior, police may be warranted in looking into that out of necessity. (Please feel free to disagree by the way. The nature of this is that it’s an issue, and it’s an issue because it’s controversial. Therefore, I’m open to disagreement)
I found this analysis really insightful to how American police functioned throughout time. The bias and corruption in the system is a major problem, which is evident by the Political Era of policing. That it’s own structure has to do with power and even the abuse of power. I feel like saying the community era is a major improvement is a bit of a stretch. In my own criminology class, police now use hotspots to control the amount of crime but unfortunately these hotspots are usually in low-income black communities. That is why I think there should be an extent of reform of policing by having a more in-depth training for cops. As well as better resources that can handle domestic or social problems and are better trained in that area.
This history of policing in the United States that you have laid out is really organized and informative, in that it provides context for how and why the police in the United States function they way they do. I did not know a whole lot about the history of policing in America until I read this, and I definitely feel more informed now. It seems as though policing should be reformed in some way, so that we can prevent the mistakes of prior eras of policing from reoccurring. It is through knowing the history, that a more thoughtful discussion can be had around policing in America, and for people that don’t know the history, let alone the statistics that you mentioned, it could be very hard to try and get people to help improve policing in America.
The history in this post was really helpful to me because while I have heard a lot of references to the problems with how police came to be, I have not researched enough myself to really understand. It is interesting but unfortunately not surprising that when the police force was first created, there was a lot of corruption from politics. This is not surprising to me though because we hear a lot about political corruption especially recently. I also think it is telling of the climate that we are impressed that the police system has improved since its origin, but I think that it should be the expectation that institutions like these are constantly improving. Furthermore, I do have to disagree because I think that racial profiling is problematic and the acceptance of this contributes to the climate that it is ever okay. Additionally, a major part of the issue is that a lot of these circumstances result in murders even when the police officer was not in danger.