Police: Difference between revisions

{{about|the law enforcement body|other uses}}

{{Pp-vandalism|small=yes}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}

[[File:HH Polizeihauptmeister MZ.jpg|thumb|[[Landespolizei|German State Police]] officer in [[Hamburg Police|Hamburg]], with the rank of {{lang|de|[[Law enforcement in Germany|Polizeihauptmeister mit Zulage]]}} ("police chief master with upgraded pay")]]

 

 

 

A police force may also be referred to as a police department, police service, [[constabulary]], [[gendarmerie]], [[crime prevention]], protective services, [[law enforcement agency]], civil guard, or civic guard. Members may be referred to as [[police officer]]s, [[Trooper (police rank)|troopers]], [[sheriff]]s, [[constable]]s, [[Park ranger|ranger]]s, [[peace officer]]s or civic/civil guards. Ireland differs from other English-speaking countries by using the Irish language terms ''Garda'' (singular) and ''Gardaí'' (plural), for both [[Garda Síochána|the national police force]] and its members. The word ''police'' is the most universal and similar terms can be seen in many non-English speaking countries.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2009/06/prints_of_persia.html|title=Prints of Persia|last=Beam|first=Christopher|date=2009-06-17|work=Slate|access-date=2017-08-30|issn=1091-2339}}</ref>

In [[France]] during the [[Middle Ages]], there were two [[Great Officers of the Crown of France]] with police responsibilities: The [[Marshal of France]] and the [[Grand Constable of France]]. The military policing responsibilities of the Marshal of France were delegated to the Marshal's provost, whose force was known as the Marshalcy because its authority ultimately derived from the Marshal. The marshalcy dates back to the [[Hundred Years' War]], and some historians trace it back to the early 12th century. Another organisation, the [[Constabulary]] ({{lang-fro|Connétablie}}), was under the command of the [[Constable of France]]. The constabulary was regularised as a military body in 1337. Under [[Francis I of France|Francis&nbsp;I]] (reigned 1515–1547), the {{lang|fr|[[Maréchaussée]]}} was merged with the constabulary. The resulting force was also known as the {{lang|fro|Maréchaussée}}, or, formally, the Constabulary and Marshalcy of France.

 

 

The [[England|English]] system of maintaining public order since the Norman conquest was a private system of [[tithing]]s known as the mutual pledge system. This system was introduced under [[Alfred the Great]]. Communities were divided into groups of ten families called tithings, each of which was overseen by a chief tithingman. Every household head was responsible for the good behavior of his own family and the good behavior of other members of his tithing. Every male aged 12 and over was required to participate in a tithing. Members of tithings were responsible for raising "hue and cry" upon witnessing or learning of a crime, and the men of his tithing were responsible for capturing the criminal. The person the tithing captured would then be brought before the chief tithingman, who would determine guilt or innocence and punishment. All members of the criminal's tithing would be responsible for paying the fine. A group of ten tithings was known as a "hundred" and every hundred was overseen by an official known as a [[reeve (England)|reeve]]. Hundreds ensured that if a criminal escaped to a neighboring village, he could be captured and returned to his village. If a criminal was not apprehended, then the entire hundred could be fined. The hundreds were governed by administrative divisions known as [[shire]]s, the rough equivalent of a modern [[county]], which were overseen by an official known as a shire-reeve, from which the term [[sheriff]] evolved. The shire-reeve had the power of {{lang|la|[[posse comitatus]]}}, meaning he could gather the men of his shire to pursue a criminal.<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aCGtxnozpqkC&pg=PA7| title = Introduction to Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice | isbn = 9781111138905| last1 = Hess| first1 = Kären M.| last2 = Orthmann| first2 = Christine Hess| date = 2012| publisher = Cengage Learning }}</ref> Following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the tithing system was tightened with the [[frankpledge]] system. By the end of the 13th century, the office of constable developed. Constables had the same responsibilities as chief tithingmen and additionally as royal officers. The constable was elected by his [[parish (administrative division)|parish]] every year. Eventually, constables became the first 'police' official to be tax-supported. In urban areas, [[watchman (law enforcement)|watchmen]] were tasked with keeping order and enforcing nighttime curfew. Watchmen guarded the town gates at night, patrolled the streets, arrested those on the streets at night without good reason, and also acted as firefighters. Eventually the office of [[justice of the peace]] was established, with a justice of the peace overseeing constables.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-bmcc-criminaljustice/chapter/section-4-1-early-history-of-policing/| title = Section 4.1: Early History of Policing {{!}} Criminal Justice<!-- Bot generated title -->}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dobrin|first=Adam|date=July 2017|title=Volunteer police: History, benefits, costs and current descriptions|journal=Security Journal|volume=30|issue=3|pages=717–733|doi=10.1057/sj.2015.18|s2cid=152660408|issn=0955-1662}}</ref> There was also a system of investigative "[[jury|juries]]".

===Modern===

====Scotland and Ireland====

 

====London====

With the initial investment of £4,200, the new force the [[Thames River Police#Marine Police|Marine Police]] began with about 50 men charged with policing 33,000 workers in the river trades, of whom Colquhoun claimed 11,000 were known criminals and "on the game". The force was part funded by the [[London Society of West India Planters and Merchants]]. The force was a success after its first year, and his men had "established their worth by saving £122,000 worth of cargo and by the rescuing of several lives". Word of this success spread quickly, and the government passed the [[Depredations on the Thames Act 1800]] on 28 July 1800, establishing a fully funded police force the [[Thames River Police]] together with new laws including police powers; now the oldest police force in the world. Colquhoun published a book on the experiment, ''The Commerce and Policing of the River Thames''. It found receptive audiences far outside London, and inspired similar forces in other cities, notably, [[New York City]], [[Dublin]], and [[Sydney]].<ref name="paterson" />

 

 

====Metropolitan====

A single police force was established after the formation of the British Raj with the [[Government of India Act 1858]]. A uniform police bureaucracy was formed under the Police Act 1861, which established the Superior Police Services. This later evolved into the [[Indian Imperial Police]], which kept order until the [[Partition of India]] and independence in 1947. In 1948, the Indian Imperial Police was replaced by the [[Indian Police Service]].

 

 

====United States====

In the 1700s, the [[Province of Carolina]] (later [[North Carolina|North]]- and [[South Carolina]]) established [[slave patrol]]s in order to prevent slave rebellions and enslaved people from escaping.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Origins of Modern Day Policing |url=https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/origins-modern-day-policing |access-date=2022-09-27 |website=naacp.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|title=How the U.S. Got Its Police Force|url=https://time.com/4779112/police-history-origins/|access-date=2020-06-09|magazine=Time|language=en}}</ref> By 1785 the [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]] Guard and Watch had "a distinct [[command hierarchy|chain of command]], [[uniform]]s, sole responsibility for policing, [[salary]], [[authorized use of force]], and a focus on [[crime prevention|preventing crime]]."<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Gospel or a Glock? Mennonites and the Police|author=Andy Alexis-Baker|issue=2|year=2007|journal=The Conrad Grebel Review|volume=25|url=https://uwaterloo.ca/grebel/publications/conrad-grebel-review/issues/spring-2007/gospel-or-glock-mennonites-and-police|access-date=10 June 2020|archive-date=28 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028162748/https://uwaterloo.ca/grebel/publications/conrad-grebel-review/issues/spring-2007/gospel-or-glock-mennonites-and-police|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorist Task Force.jpg|thumb|Members of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]–[[New York City Police Department|NYPD]] [[Joint Terrorism Task Force]] carrying evidence as part of an investigation in the early 2000s]]

 

 

One topic concerns making transnational policing institutions democratically accountable.<ref>Sheptycki, J. (2004) 'The Accountability of Transnational Policing Institutions: The Strange Case of Interpol' The Canadian Journal of Law and Society, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 107–134</ref> According to the Global Accountability Report for 2007, Interpol had the lowest scores in its category (IGOs), coming in tenth with a score of 22% on overall accountability capabilities.<ref>Lloyd, R. Oatham, J. and Hammer, M. (2007) 2007 Global Accountability Report: London: One World Trust</ref>

 

==Equipment==

===Weapons===

[[File:OTB Salinas070.jpg|thumb|Police officers and [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshals]] deputies conducting an arrest in [[Salinas, California]], carrying a variety of weaponry]]

 

Police often have specialized units for handling armed offenders or dangerous situations where combat is likely, such as [[police tactical unit]]s or [[authorised firearms officer]]s. In some jurisdictions, depending on the circumstances, police can call on the [[military]] for assistance, as [[military aid to the civil power]] is an aspect of many armed forces. Perhaps the most high-profile example of this was in 1980, when the [[British Army]]'s [[Special Air Service]] was deployed to resolve the [[Iranian Embassy siege]] on behalf of the [[Metropolitan Police]].

[[Police aviation]] consists of [[helicopter]]s and [[fixed-wing aircraft]], while [[police watercraft]] tend to consist of [[Rigid inflatable boat|RHIBs]], [[motorboat]]s, and [[patrol boat]]s. [[SWAT vehicle]]s are used by police tactical units, and often consist of four-wheeled [[Armoured personnel carrier|armored personnel carriers]] used to transport tactical teams while providing armored cover, equipment storage space, or makeshift [[battering ram]] capabilities; these vehicles are typically not armed and do not patrol and are only used to transport. [[Emergency operations center|Mobile command posts]] may also be used by some police forces to establish identifiable command centers at the scene of major situations.

 

 

==Strategies==

 

In addition, there are [[Federal law enforcement in the United States|federal law enforcement agencies in the United States]] whose mission includes providing protection for executives such as the president and accompanying family members, visiting foreign dignitaries, and other high-ranking individuals.<ref>The United States Park Police Webpage, [http://www.nps.gov/uspp NPS.gov] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080924193638/http://www.nps.gov/uspp/ |date=24 September 2008 }}</ref>{{better source needed|date=November 2019}} Such agencies include the [[U.S. Secret Service]] and the [[U.S. Park Police]].

 

==See also==

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}

* [[Chief of police]]

* [[Criminal citation]]

* [[Criminal justice]]

* [[Highway patrol]]

* [[Law enforcement agency]]

* [[Militsiya]]

* [[Officer Down Memorial Page]]

* [[Police academy]]

* [[Police car]]

* [[Police certificate]]

* [[Public security]]

* [[Riot police]]

* [[State police]]

* [[Vigilante]]

* [[Women in law enforcement]]

{{div col end}}