Evolution Of Policing In The United States: Changes In Police-Community Relations, Technology, And Tactics

Perception often results in an individual’s sense of reality. Policing is a visible institution with daily images and news events surrounding incidents involving the police. Policing has evolved since the inception of the first modern police department in London (1829) and the first organized police agency in New York City, NY in 1845. Your task is to summarize the evolution of policing in the United States as a backdrop for discussing how police-community relations, technology, and police tactics have changed from the first police agencies through the present (2018).

This question must be answered using empirical research to support all aspects of your response. Ensure you incorporate the major case (USSC) decisions that have impacted the various aspects of policing you are expected to discuss.

Policing has existed since the creation of the civilization era. Individuals and states are largely dependent over the policing strategies as this is responsible for maintaining the law and order. The purpose of policing was to prevent crime and the police depended on the approval and trust of the public. They are responsible for the maintaining the impartiality and they are empowered to use force and physical control when other forms of persuasion have not worked. Policing has evolved in United States after the inception of the first modern police department in London. The first police agency was organised in New York, in 1845. Since then several changes have been made in the policing (De Guzman, Das & Das, Eds.). The present study summarizes the evolution of policing in the United States along with it discusses the changes in the police-community relations, technology and police tactics from the earliest police agencies through the present police agencies. Police-community relations mean relationship between the police and their role in the serving communities. With the new innovative technologies, crime detection and policing has become more manageable. Tactics are the methods that the police institutions use to persuade their goals. Likewise, police strategies have improved for the newly adopted police tactics.

Technology has helped in discovering new means for institutions to obtain their goals. To evaluate the policing in United States, the role of technologies should be highlighted from the first police agencies through the present. Various types of technology have been adopted by the police agencies in their daily operations (Ratcliffe, 2016). In the earlier days, when there was need to improve the technology, it was a hard time for the policemen as they had little assistance. Then the technological progress came with the intention of patrol wagon and signal services. This came as a revolution in the policing strategies. In earlier period, in lack of the electricity, it was difficult to create a communication between the police stations (Koper, Lum, & Willis, 2014). With the introduction of electricity, a notable development was noticed in the police strategies.

The policing history in the United States can be divided into three eras. The first era, which is the Political Era from about 1840 to 1920, contains a huge mutual development in the relationship between the police and the politicians (Ncjrs.gov. 2018). During this era, technologies were developed in two ways that the police forces were armed with the gun and nightstick. This was introduced for the policemen to use as a force to tackle the violence. In the second half of the 19th century, the policemen were found to have their reliance on the basic tools they used about 100 years ago safeguard the innocent lives and themselves. The period of 1920 to 1970 can be ideally recognised as the second era of evolving policing in the United States and the era is identified as the Professional Model Era (Ncjrs.gov. 2018). The scholars have identified that technologies have helped in highlighting the discipline, equal implementation of law and the centralized decision making. The use of fingerprint, polygraph and handwriting identification systems was introduced in that era, which helped in recognising the victims. The American Classification System and fingerprinting of accused was the first use of fingerprinting for the criminal record in the United States. In the Mary Holland case, was one of the earlier cases to be decided on the examination of fingerprints. Crime laboratory was established in California, which was the ground for training policemen in an effective way. In the next two decades, the technological innovations like traffic law enforcements were introduced. A crime commission was appointed for Law Enforcement and Justice Administration, which found that there was a scientific and technological gap in the justice system. A single telephone number, that is 911, was established by the commission to be available nationwide in the United States. The commission also encouraged computerized policing system in America not only for keeping routine record, but also for helping in crime analysis, investigation, allocating manpower and budgeting. Friction ridge skin impressions were introduced in United States in 1902 and used as a proof of identifying a person. Since 1982, it was reported that 5000 DNA paternity tests were performed by several companies in United States (Ncjrs.gov. 2018). The enhanced use of technologies helped in improving the administrative processes and detecting the new crimes. With the introduction of CCTV cameras in the recent era, policing had evolved in a significant way. Surveillance with the help of using new technologies can be traced back in the case of Dow Chemical Co. v. United States. With the advancement of imaging technologies, telecommunications and remote sensing; policing has become simplified as it became easier to surveillance. In this context, the case of Maryland v King needs to be emphasised, which was solved by examining the DNA sample.

Police-Community Relations

The United States of America adopted England’s Anglo Saxon Common Law at its very beginning. As the two societies became industrialized and urbanized with time, the rate of crime, riot and other societal disturbances became rampant as well. This paved the way for the establishment of the first police force in the colonial North America at Boston in 1838 and in New York City in 1845.  This was not an extremely organized policing system when it initiated in the 19^th century (Wilson, 2013). However, with time, the police force became more organized out of sheer necessity. Sir Robert Peel formed the first police force that was well equipped and organized in London, which became the model for all other organized police forces around America. The Chicago Police Department was established in 1851. By the end 1855, most of the important cities of the US had established their own Police force for the protection of the citizens. With passing time, Policing grew to be a reputed profession, which required the detailed study and researches on modern policing methods, technology, better police-community relation and tactics. The relationship between the police force and the common citizen is not always harmonious. The police force needs the help of the community and the support and cooperation from other authorities also.  The police-community relation of the US is discussed in the three eras of its evolution ("National Criminal Justice Reference Service | NCJRS", 2018).

The police department had a close proximity with the social and political scenario of the country in the political era. In this era, Police officers were usually recruited from the similar social groups, living in the same locality and looking after the same neighbourhood. Political leaders and government authorities often called the local police force for advice on political, cultural and social issues. This situation drastically changed in the next era (Kelling & Wycoff, 2001).

In the Reform Era, the relationship between the police force and the citizens became more defined and limited. The Reform Era demanded a more liberal and impartial law enforcer who would understand the citizen’s problem more efficiently. From the television program ‘Surgeon Friday’ it can be clearly seen that to the police were only keen about solving the cases from an impersonal front than getting emotional about the crisis of the victim (Kelling & Wycoff, 2001). It is evident that in this era the police force was more focused to be professional than to be involved personally and emotionally with the victims. The professional outlook of the people of this era seemed to care and take responsibility of the matters of their own field; like the teacher cared for educational issues, the social workers looked after the social problems of the society, the doctor cared for health issues of the citizens, similarly the police looked after the crime related problems. In matters concerning the Police, the role of the citizen was to call the police and to give evidence as a witness of the crime that has occurred in front of them. In this era, it seemed to be inappropriate to take part in pacifying a crime scene as it was believed to be against the morality. The phrase ' thin blue line’ defines this type of behaviour of the citizen pertaining to police action in this era. This phrase connotes that there is potential threat to the community of which the police is the heroic saviour. This portrays the brave character of the police as well as highlights the loneliness of the police force pertaining to the protection of the lives of the people all alone.

The Political Era

According to Kelling & Wycoff, in the recent era which is the community problem-solving era, the police and the citizens share an intimate relationship among themselves, working with the help of each others’ cooperation. This has been possible due to a certain short and long term programs like emphasizing on the idea of increasing familiarity among the police and the citizen like the police officers going from door to door and having a conversation with the common people regarding the crime related issues of their locality, consultation with local people pertaining to issues of the area, calling for community meetings to discuss about the problems of the people related to crime. As Greene said, in this era, employment opportunity in the various strata of police service is thoroughly encouraged. There are different kinds of police athletic programs and other educational programs related to police service that are offered in the High Schools and the youngsters are encouraged to pursue. This era sees a different facet of the police force where the police seem to be more sympathetic and involved towards the citizen. Unlike the previous era, the police officers take time to be more emotionally involved in a case rather than be strictly professional about it (Cordner, 2014).  This seems clear that the police force of the United States is trying their best to restructure and reform their relationship with the common people of the country. During the Reform Era, the police force seemed to have a monopoly over the area of patrolling crimes and protecting the citizens. While, in the communities problem-solving era, the advent of several other community crime control agencies has made the police authority mend its way of strict professionalism. In the previous era, the police had no such ‘competition in the industry’ like the contemporary community crime control agencies.

Researchers and police have developed various strategies, methods and philosophies related to policing which deal with crime as different groups come up with similar solution for same problems approached in relation to policing overlap each other. The primary need for making strategies by the police is to prevent crime in the society effectively using the resources provider to the police department (Sherman, 2013). These strategies have developed over time in USA due to various reasons. The development of strategies is essential so that the policing unit would be able to ensure that they are up to date with the contemporary need of the society. In case the police fails to develop according to the changes in the society they would not be able to effectively counter crime. Strategies for police in United States have been adopted from England earlier. In the case of Mapp v. Ohio, Mapp was caught and later convicted by the way of policing strategy of sudden search and seizure. A night watchman and constable system has been tried in which a group of voluntary citizens took the initiative of solving urban problems. The police department was initially established in New York City in the year 1845 which was followed by other cities. All these departments used the London Metropolitan police as their primary model. In the same way like the London police, the American Police Car also organised in a quasi military command framework. The primary responsibility of the system was to prevent disorder and crime along with providing a wide range of other public services. There was no detective system earlier. With time, the United State has developed its own police department which resulted in relatively autonomous units of police (Shjarback & White, 2016).

The Reform Era

Further a system of detective has been developed in the United States like that of England. Earlier the police did not include the investigation of crime as it central function. As crime continued to take place pressure was put on the police in system to take the responsibility of creating an investigating detective unit. Detective units were developed New York City by 1857. There have been several scandals involved in relation to the detective units as a result of corruption. This lead to all the cities restructuring their investigative units however significant improvements in relation to the profession of detective had only taken place in the 20^th century (Dempsey & Forst, 2013). As Mastrofski said, the present police in system in United States are very developed, effective and can be divided into Federal, State and County police. As a result of Police reforms and militarization of police there have been several changes in the styling of policing in United States. The police have been provided with general powers along with civil assets forfeiture powers. This has led to several controversies such as use of deadly force, lack of accountability and misconduct by the police. The system therefore introduced several entry qualification requirements and dealt with issues which have come up in relation to recruitment. In Harris v. New York, the Supreme Court held that the police should not interrogate a person in a custody unless he is made aware of his right to remain silent and ask for an attorney.  Modernization of police equipments had also been addressed which includes providing name with firearms and less lethal weapons. The police was also provided by specialised weapons along with body armour and body worn camera to be able to address and fight corruption (Tyler, Goff & MacCoun, 2015).

Therefore to conclude, with the passage of time, all the aspects of Police related matters like the police-community relation, technological advances and tactics and strategies have improved. From adopting improved weapons to welcoming advanced strategies, the police department of the US has strived to pacify crime over the years. In the present context, much of the work of the police is done by the use of techniques and automobiles. The use of motorcycle, helicopters, and hand-held walkie-talkies for the purpose of crime investigation has become a part of their work today. Nowadays, computerized data matching helps in comparing two or more sets of electronic data. Even, nowadays, laser is being used as an effective way to detect fingerprints on surfaces. Biometric security system is used in policing to verify the identification of persons seeking access to a secured area. Presently the police of some major cities like Los Angeles, New York, Boston are trying to restructure their working relationship with the citizen and to form an alliance with the community crime control groups and social workers.  Recently, there has been evidence of development of alliances between the police department and other community policing groups in various states throughout the country.

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Harris v. New York, 401 U.S. 222

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