Police
Describe the impact of Sir Robert Peel on American policing
Sir Robert Peel was not an American police officer, or an American politician. He served twice as the Prime Minister of Britain as a Tory, passing a series of significant laws. Part of Peel's concern was in the field of criminal justice and law enforcement. He helped pass major prison reform legislation and also established the first significant metropolitan police force in the United Kingdom. In transforming British police organizations and law enforcement, Peel helped to lay the foundation for the modern American police force and its underlying philosophy.
Peel developed a law enforcement philosophy that was based on involving community residents in the process of crime prevention. The modern concept of community policing is in part based on Sir Peel's original "nine principles," which were outlined in the 19th century. The first of Peel's nine principles is that the "basic mission for while the police exist is to prevent...
Also integral to Peel's principles include the need for community approval for the police. Interest in community approval indicated a paradigm shift in law enforcement: from a model in which the law was antagonistic to the public, towards a model in which the law existed to serve the public. Because of Peel's reforms, American policing systems depend on public approval and legitimacy The media plays a major role in policing the police in this respect. Prior to Peel, policing did not involve a standing force at all. Policing had a major, usually intrusive role, in intervening after a crime was committed but was unable to implement methods of crime prevention. One of the fundamental strategies used to prevent crime was the development of the "beat" model, in which a salaried force patrolled an area so that suspicious activities could be observed, questioned, and if necessary, halted. The American model of law enforcement continues to be modeled after Peel's nine…
