History of Policing in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

History of Policing in America - Essay Example However, as colonies shifted into towns, as well as towns into big cities, the Justice of the Peace organization was not sufficient. It was time for a well structured and salaried police service unit. Nevertheless, during that time, there were no policewomen. Boston initiated Night Watch in the early 1600s, which worked logically well in areas where the settlers embraced a rural culture, as well as an agrarian lifestyle (London, 2006). New York City, on the other hand, in 1651, set up the Shout and Rattle Watch, but, in 1705, Philadelphia thought that it was necessary to split the city into ten patrol regions. This was, in reality, the first stab in the United States at "controlled law enforcement" as it was worth the effort (London, 2006). Sometime between the Civil Wars and Revolutionary, the over-rapid increase of industrialization and population in the United States mandated the development of metropolitan police departments. Philadelphia, in 1833, prepared an independent, 24/7 watch squad (London, 2006). In 1844, New York, in 1844, maintained two police units, one unit worked during the day and the other one took their shift at night. During this time, police departments were run by police chiefs, chosen and answerable to political bosses inharmoniously comparable to what was observed in the black and white police films of the 1950s. Corruption ran out of control. Another law enforcement technique that American inherited from Britain was The Sheriff System. As America migrated west, in a majority frontier townships, the sheriff was the main law enforcement officer (London, 2006). He could be hired from the local community, or more regularly a Sheriff was elected by his repute and the gloomier the representative, th e more likely he was to be selected.