Police Strategies and Operations

Developing American Police Systems

In the mid-1800s, the first American police departments modeled themselves after the London Metropolitan Police. Formed by Sir Robert Peel in 1829, the London Police emphasized “preventive patrol,” the notion that a police presence would alter the behavior of individuals and would be available to maintain order in an efficient manner (Miller 1977).

The London Metropolitan Police was a highly centralized agency; decisions were made from the top, the agency was located in one building in London, and it was purposely removed from the direct political influence of the people. The founder of the police, Sir Robert Peel, recruited individuals who fit a certain mold. Peel insisted that a polite, aloof officer who was trained and disciplined according to strict guidelines would be best suited for the function of crime prevention. In addition, the “bobbies” (nicknamed after Robert Peel) were encouraged to look upon police work as a career in professional civil service.

Although American police systems followed the preventive model, implementation was far different than in England. American police systems followed the style of local and municipal governments. City governments, created in the era of democratic participation and the “common man,” were highly decentralized. Mayors were largely figureheads; real power lay in the wards and neighborhoods. City councilmen or aldermen ran the government and used political patronage freely. The police departments shared this style of participation and decentralization. The police were an extension of different political factions, rather than an extension of city government. Police officers were recruited and selected by political leaders in a particular ward or precinct.

As a result of the democratic nature of government, legal intervention by the police was limited. Unlike the London police, who relied on formal control, American police relied on individual authority. In other words, instead of drawing on institutional legitimacy (i.e., parliamentary laws), each American police officer had to establish his own authority among the citizens he patrolled. The personal, informal police officer could win the respect of the citizenry by knowing local standards and expectations. This meant that different police behavior would occur in different neighborhoods (Miller 1977).

American police systems began to appear almost overnight from 1860 to 1890 (Monkkonen 1981). Once large cities like New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Cincinnati had adopted the English model, the new version of policing spread from larger to smaller cities rather quickly. Where New York had debated for almost ten years before formally adopting the London style, Cleveland, Buffalo, Detroit, and other cities readily accepted the innovation.

Police Activity in the 1800S

During the late 1800s, typical police operations involved walking the “beat” and keeping the peace. Police officers walked a beat in all types of weather for two to six hours of a twelve-hour day. The remaining time was spent at the station house on reserve. During actual patrol duty, police officers were required to maintain order and make arrests, but they often circumvented their responsibilities. Supervision was extremely limited once an officer was beyond the station house. As communications technology was limited, sergeants and captains had no way of contacting their officers while they were on the beat. Telegraph lines linked district stations to headquarters in the 1850s, but call boxes on the beat were not introduced until late in the nineteenth century, and radio and motorized communications did not appear until the 1900s (Lane 1980). Thus, police officers of the time acted alone and used their own initiative.

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