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By Chantel Castrejon, Staff Reporter
The idea of having a police system in place has been so normalized that we can’t imagine when we didn’t have it. Although we, present day, might not acknowledge a time before the police system was made, there have been times before the twenty-first century when there were no police officers.
It is crucial to understand just how important the history behind the police system is and to learn of the many places police departments have originated both racially and non-racially.
Police are said to be in place to protect and serve the people. The U.S. police force is a relatively modern invention, sparked by changing notions of public order and driven by economics and politics.
Over the course of history, American policing has been strongly impacted by the European English system.
In the early stages of development in both England and Colonial America, citizens were responsible for commanding and deploying law in their own communities. In England and Colonial America, policing was largely ineffective, as it was based on a voluntary system, with a disorganized and errant approach to patrol.
The responsibility of implementing laws shifted some time later, from individual citizen volunteers to groups of men employed within the community; this was referred to as the Frankpledge scheme in England. The Frankpledge system was a semistructured system in which groups of men were responsible for enforcing the law
There have been records of when the police system hadn’t been given a proper name itself and instead took part in racially discriminating practices. Though the police system has now separated from these views as to not upset the public eye.
In the South, the main goal driving the creation of police forces was centered on the preservation of the slavery system. While some regard slave patrol as the first formal attempt at policing in America, others identify the unification of police departments in several major cities in the early to mid-1800s as the beginning point in the development of modern policing in the United States.
The original Slave Patroller’s Oath read, “I [patroller’s name], do swear, that I will as searcher for guns, swords, and other weapons among the slaves in my district, faithfully, and as privately as I can, discharge the trust reposed in me as the law directs, to the best of my power. So help me, God.”
In their command of African Americans, slave patrols were no less violent; they often beat and terrorized slaves, the difference was that local authorities were legally obliged to do so.
According to historian Gary Potter, the purpose of these patrols were “(1) to chase down, apprehend, and return to their owners, runaway slaves; (2) to provide a form of organized terror to deter slave revolts; and, (3) to maintain a form of discipline for slave-workers who were subject to summary justice, outside the law.”
Especially during these controversial times, it’s important we learn of the history behind the system which is supposed to be fighting to protect us. It is also important for the police officers. Researching their past to better understand today's controversy over community policing could lead to better acknowledging people's opinion of them.
“I didn’t know most of these things,” Kennedy parent Mizuky Santos said. “But now that I’ve read a bit of the history on polices I want to know more.”
History highlights some of the proponents of community policing's most outrageous statements and warns against ignoring crucial historical lessons such as these.
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