Histories of modern law enforcement started about 166 years ago when London Metropolitan Police District was formed in1829. The British Parliament’s objective in a police force is to address the rising number of crime incidents in the area and around the capital. The decision was made by the parliament because of the attributes to crime such as unchecked immigration, alcoholism, poverty, poor infrastructure, aggressive political groups, lenient judges and unmonitored juveniles. London Metropolitan Police had their first chief Sir Robert Peel and he adopted several principles for the he called as “bobbies”. His principles served as the foundation of British and American police system. Among of the principles he developed was measuring crime rates which will determine how effective the police force was to the community (Patterson, Jeffrey N.D.).
Several miles away the United States of America is experiencing the same situation as England in terms of rising criminal problem. The key cities are facing phenomenal crime rate and civil disobedience is a rampant problem. For example New York’s growing population of 33,000 in 1790 has increased to a whopping 150,000 in just a span of 40 years. New immigrants from Germany and Ireland flocked to the city in search of employment. The situation created a conflict with the locals because of the competition for employment opportunities. During that period racial issue is an important social subject and as a result a lot of civil unrest is becoming frequent. To address the problem the government search for a way for control measures and principles of Sir Robert Peel is the best option at hand. The same situation is also occurring in Philadelphia and city of St. Louis (Uchida, Craig D. December 2004).
Among the many crimes that have to be resolved by the police force are robberies, homicide, theft, gambling, prostitution, vagrancy and petty crimes that are regularly observed in the streets. As an answer to the problem, large cities such as Boston, Philadelphia and New York immediately adopted the police system developed by Sir Robert Peel which will work similar to that of London. The only problem that most of the government leaders that time are the debate on what type of police force they need to assemble. Mayors, Governors, State Legislators and City Councils are wrangled by the simple question; because of the endless debates about the subject it took seven years from its fist inception in 1834 that New York had finally established their own police department, but police started uniforms on 1853.
Even though the model of American police is the London Metropolitan Police they chose to be selective of the principles to be implemented rather than following the exact system. One of the innovations adopted by the American Police from Sir Robert Peel is the establishment of patrol areas referred to as “beats”. Normally military and civilians respond to crimes after it has been reported, but with the frequent police patrolling any crimes in detection are being apprehended immediately and criminals are most of the time caught on the act. Sir Robert Peel devised a plan of deploying Bobbies in strategic geographical zones and gives them the responsibility of suppressing and preventing crimes within their area of jurisdiction. This strategy is based on his belief that; the citizens are likely to tell information about crime occurrence to someone they are familiar with, in this case the police, be visible to people and the people to be familiar with the police (Patterson, Jeffrey N.D.).
On the other hand the British an American Police have their distinct way of developing their own lines of police. In British police system the Bobbies are wearing blue uniform and has adopted a paramilitary structure, meanwhile American police are not yet on uniform and carrying guns and they are under the command of the appointed police captain. The difference in both police system entailed different social reaction and implementation results are not of the same outcome. After years of debating on the proper police system to adopt Cincinnati, Boston, Philadelphia and New York had finally accepted the English model. Similar versions of police system spread quickly on smaller cities. Detroit, Buffalo and Cleveland and other smaller cities also accepted the same police innovation (Uchida, Craig D. December 2004).
After Dir Robert Peel had successfully established the British police system he was able to do the same in the United States because his methods and principles are also the same foundation that built the American Police. How he was able to create an impact to policing is a legacy that helped America in shaping law enforcement that is very evident until today. His ideas of law and order made the police system a reality which is proven beneficial to the society and the government in making sure that the greater public is well protected from criminals.
References
Patterson, Jeffrey Sir Robert Peel’s Innovation (N.D.) Community Policing: Learning the Lessons of History Web Retrieved February 19, 2012 from from http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cjs07.htm
Uchida, Craig D. (December 2004) The Development of the American Police: an Historical Overview Web Retrieved February 19, 2012 from http://www.globalcitizen.net/Data/Pages/1418/Papers/2009042815114290.pdf
