History of Policing in America

Just like anything else, policing has a long history with different eras.  These include the Political Era, the Professional Era and today's Community Problem Solving Era.

The Political Era
It is called the Political Era because this is when politicians had the power to appoint who they wanted to be police officers.  This lead to corruption within the ranks of the police.  Many people who were chosen to be police officers by elected officials were people who helped get them elected.  The elected officials owed them a favor so they made them police officers.  This also meant that police officers would turn a blind eye to anything these politicians may have been doing.

The Professional Era
It is called the Professional Era because this is when policing finally started becoming a profession instead of gifts from politicians.  These people actually went through training and policing was their career.  During this era there was a lot of focus on fighting crime.  They wanted to arrest as many criminals as they could.  The police during this era cared only about arrest rates and not the community as a whole.

Community Problem Solving Era
This brings us to the Community Problem Solving Era.  This is the era we are currently in.  During the Community Problem Solving Era police have begun to focus on the community as a whole.  Instead of focusing solely on arresting individuals and crime fighting they look at the bigger problem and try to fix that instead, because if they get rid of the problem crime will stop.  During this era police try and work with their communities.  They share information on how to deter crime and they communicate with members of the community to see if they have noticed anything suspicious.

Policing has come a long ways in its time.  I think that today's approach is by far the most effective way for policing to serve its community.  Law enforcement cannot be every where at once so they rely on the communities to be their eyes and ears.  With the help of their communities police can be much more effective.