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Policing: An Historical Overview

In the 1930s and 1940s, American policing generally followed the "beat cop" model, where uniformed police officers walked the "beat" of a particular neighborhood (Perry Police 1). As they did so, they came to know the residents and businesses in the area. The residents saw the officer as someone who was interested in the welfare of the neighborhood, and the officers developed "networks of knowledge" within the neighborhood (Perry Police 1). Detectives at the station used the information provided by the residents and the officers to attempt to solve the crime (Perry Police 1). However, the problems with this model included significant political corruption, poor officer training, and differing levels of law enforcement for different neighborhoods.

As a result, during the 1960s and 1970s, the "beat cop" model changed to the "professional policing" model, which oriented itself toward controlling crime by focusing on incidences of crime rather than community issues that might give rise to crime (Perry Police 1). Trainee officers now received significant training in policing tactics and professional behavior (Perry Police 1). Trainees also learned the most current police technologies (vehicles, forensics, communications weapons, etc.), which allowed officers to be better trained, police larger territories, and solve once-unsolvable crimes (Perry Police 1).

There are disadvantages to this model, however. Investigations now rely more heavily on laboratory techniques than citizen reports (Perry Police 1). In addition, officers' reliance more on police vehicles reduces personal contact with residents. The community - which was the locality of crime - became separate from policing because officers limited the information they shared with the community as they tried to solve the crime. One result was a growing lack of distrust between officers and the community (Schafer 673). Many residents of neighborhoods did not know the officers pe

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Policing: An Historical Overview. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 13:09, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1689380.html