6: Policing

Learning Objectives

In this section, you will be introduced to the history of policing in the United States. Today, policing is under the microscope to ensure past mistakes are not repeated and forward momentum is reached. It is for this reason this section will explore the history, as well as the foundations, that the American policing system was built upon. At the end of this section, students will be able to:

  • Discuss how the history of policing relates to current policing
  • List the different parts of the history of policing
  • Recognize the four eras of policing and identify the important parts of each era
  • Explain why Sir Robert Peel is important to policing
  • Describe how August Vollmer impacted policing
  • List what three issues marked the Political Reform Era
  • Illustrate several important occurrences during the Community Policing Era
  • Discuss why the fourth era of policing is the Homeland Security Era

Critical Thinking Questions

Discussion Questions:
1. Why is the history of policing important to understand?
2. What about kin policing made it not a good form of policing?
3. What are the four eras of policing?
4. How was the Homeland Security Era established?
5. Why was Sir Robert Peel important to policing?
6. What did August Vollmer believe police should be doing?

 

License

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

SOU-CCJ230 Introduction to the American Criminal Justice System Copyright © 2019 by Alison S. Burke, David Carter, Brian Fedorek, Tiffany Morey, Lore Rutz-Burri, and Shanell Sanchez is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book