The Current Policing Philosophies Have a Positive Impact on the Commun Research Paper

The Current Policing Philosophies Have a Positive Impact on the Communities - Research Paper Example The current policing philosophies have a positive impact on the communities since they ensure community partnerships in addressing the underlying causes of crime and entail the use advanced technologies in the collection of intelligence information that ensure a proactive response. The history of policing in America has similarities to that of England since Colonial America had a system of night guards who were supposed to guard the cities and municipalities against disorder, fire outbreaks and crime (Palmiotto, 2000). A distinct characteristic of policing in the 1800s was the powerful influence of politicians since police chiefs were hired in order to further the interests of the politicians. Police officers were often accused of corruption, misuse of force and violence towards certain racial groups in the society (Adlam & Villiers, 2003). The Southern states such as Carolina established the ‘Slave Patrol’ that tasked the officers with the duty to apprehend and return escaping slaves and subject the slaves to summary disciplinary measures outside the formal judicial system (Reisig & Kane, 2014). The officers would also enforce the ‘Jim Crow’ laws that advocated for segregation and unequal access to the political rights. The end of slavery led to the evolution of policing work since formal police departments were established in order to deal with local law enforcement. The changes saw the establishment of the centralized municipal police department in the 1830s and the cities of Boston, New York and Chicago were the first to establish the American police force (Palmiotto, 2000). The 20th century led to urbanization and increase in crime rates thus better-equipped police force was established in order to handle crime (Cordner, 2014). The civil rights era led to a shift of policing from the tradi tional crime control to more cooperative partnerships with communities.