Policing in the US

Policing in the US

            Policing in the US has gone through several changes. The original form of policing was community-centered with the citizens taking responsibility for keeping the peace. The US survived the colonial period with two types of policing: the informal and communal. The police department was mainly composed of volunteers who would take duties to keep vigil throughout the nights. Boston, New York, and Philadelphia had a well-defined informal and communal policing department. The police department in the US has gone through significant changes to become a centralized department composed of full-time employees.

Watch parties were created in the late 17th century in Boston, Philadelphia and New York. The duties of the watch parties were to protect the communities from criminals, wild animals, and fire. However, the functionality of the watch parties was not effective because it was based on voluntary work. Besides, most volunteers were looking for an excuse of not joining the military services. The introduction of the constitution led to a need for reforms in the policing methods in the US. Boston, New York, and Philadelphia were not left out in the move to embrace change.

The start of the 19th century came with pressure to align the policing methods with constitutional laws. For example, the Boston Police Department was introduced to replace the watch organization (Boston Police, n.d.). Similarly, the Philadelphia Police Department and the New York Police Department were also introduced. The new police departments were based on centralized power and involved full-time employees (Philadelphia Police, n.d.). The police departments have since gone through several reforms to come up with civilized and ethical police departments in the present (New York Police, n.d.). Most of the changes have been done to deal with rampant corruption that had been borrowed from the Watch organizations. Generally, the US policing department is fully reformed, and officers work on a full-time basis.

In sum, the police department in the US has gone through significant changes to become a centralized department composed of full-time employees. Watch parties were created in the late 17th century in Boston, Philadelphia and New York to keep in check, the security of the communities. Generally, the US policing department is fully reformed, and officers work on a full-time basis.

References

Boston Police. (n.d.). Boston Police Department. Retrieved from History: http://bpdnews.com/history/

New York Police. (n.d.). New York Police Department. Retrieved from History:    NYPD.history.PDF

Philadelphia Police. (n.d.). Philadelphia Police Department. Retrieved from History:             https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/police-department-philadelphia/