Police History, Structure, and Functions in America
This paper traces the development of policing in the United States from its colonial origins — including the "Watch" system and fee-based constables — through the foundational influence of Sir Robert Peel's Metropolitan Police reforms and his nine Peelian Principles. It examines how Peel's model shaped contemporary community policing practices, including officer accountability and crime prevention priorities. The paper also analyzes the complex relationship between American governmental bodies and law enforcement organizations, exploring how federal and local jurisdictions interact, where conflicts arise, and how that dynamic ultimately affects civil liberties, community policing, and long-term governance.
- Colonial Origins of American Policing: Early American policing forms and their limitations
- Impact of Sir Robert Peel on American Policing: Peel's reforms and the nine Peelian Principles
- Relationship Between the U.S. Government and Policing Organizations: Federal, state, and local law enforcement tensions
- Effects of the Government-Police Relationship on Police Practices: Civil liberties, community policing, and federal intervention
- Conclusion: Long-term challenges to local autonomy and governance
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper moves logically from historical origins to institutional development to contemporary policy implications, giving the argument a clear chronological and analytical arc.
- It grounds abstract governance concepts — such as jurisdictional conflict and civil liberty erosion — in concrete historical examples, including the 1829 Metropolitan Police Act and the colonial night watch system.
- The discussion of Peel's Peelian Principles is linked directly to current American policing practices, demonstrating the long-term legacy of historical reform rather than treating history as separate from the present.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper effectively uses comparative institutional analysis, tracing parallel developments in British and American policing and showing how one system influenced the other. By anchoring the argument in cited primary and secondary sources — including FBI bulletins and civil rights law journals — the paper models how to support analytical claims with authoritative evidence across different source types.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a historical survey of colonial American policing, then pivots to an extended discussion of Peel's reforms and their transatlantic influence. Two thematic sections follow, addressing first the structural relationship between government and law enforcement, then the practical effects of that relationship on police conduct and community policing. A brief conclusion ties these threads together.
Colonial Origins of American Policing
The development of the policing system in Britain was closely followed by a similar development in America. Policing by the initial colonizers assumed two forms: "The Big Stick" (for-profit, private agency policing) and the "Watch" (communal and informal) (Spitzer, 1979). The latter system was made up of community volunteers primarily charged with warning citizens of imminent danger. The night watch was first implemented in 1636 in Boston. New York and Philadelphia implemented their night watch systems in 1658 and 1700, respectively. This system did not prove particularly successful in controlling crime.
Supplementing the "Watch" mode of policing was a group of official law enforcers labeled "constables," who were often paid through a fee system based on the number of warrants they served. Policing's informal procedures continued for several years following the 1765–83 American Revolution. Only in the 1830s did the United States first introduce a municipal, centralized police department.
Widely recognized as contemporary policing's founding father, Sir Robert Peel implemented several key reforms to English criminal law when he served as Home Secretary. The changes he made to the English penal code decreased the number of crimes carrying the death penalty and ensured the education of convicts. Robert Peel instituted London's Metropolitan Police on the basis of nine self-formulated law enforcement principles. These contemporary police bodies shared the following characteristics: (1) a bureaucratic and publicly supported organization; (2) full-time police officers, rather than fee-based case retainers and community volunteers, constituting the organization; (3) fixed, consistent procedures and rules, with continuous official employment; and (4) accountability to a central governmental organization (Lundman, 1980).
References
Davis, R. (2009). Policing the police. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/feb/28/convention-modern-liberty-police
Lewis, M. A. (2011). Perspective: Peel's legacy. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. Retrieved from https://leb.fbi.gov/2011/december/perspective-peels-legacy
Lundman, R. J. (1980). Police and policing: An introduction. Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Spitzer, S. (1979). The rationalization of crime control in capitalist society. Contemporary Crises, 3(1).
Walker, S., & Macdonald, M. (2009). An alternative remedy for police misconduct: A model state "pattern or practice" statute. George Mason Civil Rights Law Journal, 19, 479–552.
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