Early Police in the United States

The United States inherited England’s common law and its system of policing. The colonists had the night watch under constables, with all able-bodied men over 16 serving without pay. Most cities and towns used this system well into the 19^th century. The use of daytime police started in Boston in 1838 with a force of 6 men. In Boston and New York the old night watch and the day force continued, with the mayor in charge of day forces and the constable in charge of night watchmen. In 1844 New York City created the first police department in the United States, using the London Metropolitan Police as a model. Boston and Philadelphia followed. The model for American police originated in England: police were organized in a quasi-military command structure; there were no detectives; their task was prevention of crime and disorder. During the early 1900s states also began creating police forces. Although some states, such as Texas and Massachusetts, had small police forces earlier, in 1905 Pennsylvania established the first modern state police department which was formed with the purpose of fighting rural crime. Regarded as models of efficiency and honesty, state police were the prototypes of what came to be known as professional police organizations: highly disciplined, narrow in focus, and organized along rigid military lines of command and control. The Bureau of Investigation - later the Federal Bureau of Investigation - was created in 1908. It began with investigating antitrust cases, several types of fraud, and certain crimes committed on government property or by government officials. In 1920 the Treasury Department created the first sizable federal police agency. Charged with enforcing Prohibition, T-men, as they came to be known, grew to a force of about 4,000 during the peak of crusade against alcohol. Prohibition was the worst of times for police: corruption increased, public confidence declined. Changes in morals, increases in crime and corruption, and, later, the Great Depression, all were seen by the police as symptoms of the erosion of the authority of basic social institutions like the family, church, schools, and neighbourhoods.

1. Did the USA inherit England’s system of policing?

2. Do American cities and towns use the same system of policing up to now?

3. Was the first police department created in New York City?

4. Were there detectives in American police at that time?

5. Were the first state police departments established with the purpose of fighting crime in large cities?

6. Did the Bureau of Investigation created in 1908 investigate a limited number of crimes?

7. Did the Police Agency of the Treasury Department grow in number during the Great Depression?

8. Were changes in morals, increases in crime and corruption seen by the police as symptoms of the erosion of their authority?

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14