a new york times article published in
august of 2020
notes that confidence in law enforcement
is at a record low
while calls for change have reached a
fever pitch in the public consciousness
ongoing protests erupted across the
united states with international actions
arising in solidarity
videos posted on social media sites
reveal what citizen protesters see
as enduring law enforcement violence and
extrajudicial killings
of people in black brown and
impoverished communities
in some camps people have started to
dismiss bad apple arguments
that frame law enforcement abuses as
individual aberrations
instead they point to historical
precedents that are embedded in the very
foundations of the institution of
policing
rather than reforms like chokehold bans
or body cameras
activists and organizers suggest that
defunding or even abolition of the
institution of policing
is the only way to prevent future
violence and death
it may be hard to imagine a world
without police but all it takes is a
little historical digging
to see that they haven't been around
forever and this isn't the first time
there's been a demand for police reform
of some kind
so today we're going to look at policing
from its colonial origins to the modern
day
as well as attempts to change the
institution over time
in the early american colonies policing
was neither centralized nor standardized
groups of night watchmen and patrols
often worked under a hodgepodge of
different systems depending on their
geographical locations
their aims were fairly similar as
property owners and private companies
contracted people for hire as protection
from thieves and nerdwells
in a bitterly ironic twist colonial
settlers were especially paranoid
that nearby displaced indigenous peoples
might encroach on their settlements
between the 1630s and 1700s boston new
york and philadelphia implemented night
watch systems
that mostly relied on volunteers though
some were paid
these people would sign up for dates and
times to patrol often sent to make sure
locals were neither gambling
nor engaging in sex work related
activities
this system was extremely inefficient as
night wash also served as punishment for
some people
tempting volunteers to participate in
the vices they were meant to watch
frequently these night watchmen spent
their shifts getting drunk and falling
asleep while on duty
southern colonies focused on protecting
other forms of property
priorities rested on the maintenance of
human chattel enslaved africans
upholding colonial economies
the first american slave patrols were
formed in the first decade of the 18th
century in the carolinas
these groups of three to six patrolmen
often traveled on horseback carrying
whips
ropes and guns enslavement led to the
enactment of slave codes
that patrols enforced night watches in
the northern colonies had similar duties
though chattel enslavement was less
practiced there these watches were still
tasked with controlling enslaved
populations
connecticut and new york even passed
slave laws that served the same function
these laws criminalize attempts and
escape and rebellions of the enslaved
against their enslavers
over the next hundred years night
watches for profit hires and slave
patrols worked in pursuit of similar
ends by different means
the notion of a centralized municipal
police force actually originated in the
uk by way of economist patrick cahoon
and his treatise on the police of the
metropolis
influenced by ideas from the scottish
enlightenment cohoon's treatise has been
credited with reforming night watches
into a means of maintaining social order
rather than just surveilling crimes they
would discipline
labor these reforms required
prioritization of moral reform for
members of the lower classes
in rapidly urbanizing areas members of
the middle and
upper classes welcomed this new
development while everyone else
resisted regardless of this resistance
municipal police forces started to form
in the late 1820s
these new ideas gained traction and
spread internationally
across the pond american cities began
instituting municipal police forces
one of which was founded in boston in
1838
increasing urbanization and immigration
from places like germany and ireland
meant that people perceived older
methods of social control as
insufficient that many of these
immigrants were catholic further marked
them as dangerous others
communities of freed black people in
northern states were not policed or
detained as frequently
except when moving outside of the
boundaries of their segregated sections
of the city
police were also asked to watch for
potential threats of labor
activity violence between police and
striking workers
even if instigated or propagated by the
police could be framed as less a matter
of private interest disciplining
laborers
than a force for public good curbing
riots and maintaining order
by the 1850s police corruption became
rampant
like their night watch predecessors
members would often break the law
like soliciting sex workers gambling and
public drunkenness
being in such close proximity to these
types of activities left members of the
police vulnerable to bribes
leaders of the municipal party machines
would choose police captains and
sergeants
and even use the police to harass
political opponents
municipalities eventually allowed police
forces to carry weapons
because they had already begun to do so
local denizens feared the police and
faced the brunt of these often corrupt
and newly armed groups
meanwhile in the south patrols continued
to enforce slave codes
which required even average citizens to
maintain vigilance
fugitive and slave people remained the
responsibility of patrolmen
but deputized the average citizen while
the u.s civil war left this system of
enslavement
as well as the laws and enforcers that
upheld it nominally conquered
this sympathetic relationship between
official patrollers and vigilant
citizens
continued as the institution of policing
in the southern united states
came to look more like that of the north
in the post-civil war era slave codes
gave way to black codes
these laws controlled where formerly
enslaved people could go
where they could work and live where
they could travel and even how much they
could be paid
instead of disbanding patrolmen shifted
their focus
arresting freed black people including
children
on minor charges as a way of
incorporating them into systems of
servitude
like the convict leasing system prisons
could then
lease their detainees to private
companies through convict leasing
and tenant farming systems or crop liens
which helped keep black
newly minted citizens indebted to their
former enslavers
like the slave codes the black codes
legitimize white supremacist
extrajudicial vigilantism
and anti-black violence they also paved
the way for the jim crow era
lynch mobs and vigilante groups were
common throughout the united states
often with implicit or explicit
blessings from local police officers
to learn more about this history you can
watch our videos on why do we have
private prisons
and the racist origins of u.s law by
1900 police work faced
more reforms not because of the racial
animosity or vigilantism
but because police were often repeating
the behaviors of their night watch
predecessors
by participating in illicit activities
or accepting bribes for favors
around this time august walmer emerged
as an influential figure who both
advocated for progressive reforms
and encouraged more systematic study of
policing
volmer served as a police chief in
berkeley california
and founded an early department of
criminology as a professor at uc
berkeley
he envisioned and enacted a new policing
system that soon spread from police
precincts in california
throughout the united states police were
required to attend college
their work duties often involved
elements of psychology management social
work and sociology
but a new era of policing was on the
horizon in 1919 the passage of the 18th
amendment prohibited the manufacture and
sale of alcohol
which created a vacuum for organized
crime to fill
in 1929 president herbert hoover
appointed the wickersham commission
its main duty was to examine problems
with law enforcement
over the next two years the commission
produced 14 volumes on their findings
one volume entitled lawlessness and law
enforcement
documented widespread corruption while
another volume the police
led to a bevy of reforms for law
enforcement across the country
such as remapping of police precincts in
order to reduce the chance of political
pressure
increasing standards in order to recruit
higher quality officers
reducing the duties of officers updating
technologies for ease of information
gathering
and diversification of police officers
from different races and familiar with
immigrant language
habits custom and cultural background
throughout the 1950s
professionalism became a priority police
officer and author orlando winfield
wilson
gained widespread influence on american
policing his book
police administration in many ways
served as the blueprint for reforms to
improve police effectiveness
and again change the institution of
policing
professionalism became the goal marking
an effort to consolidate and centralize
in order to maintain order
and prevent corruption within these
organizations working as a police
officer became a career trajectory
which was a relatively new phenomenon in
the police in america and
introduction historian samuel walker
claims the mid-century shift towards
professionalization
had unintended consequences for police
departments across the united states
bureaucratization centralization of
authority and installation of a
quasi-militaristic ranking system
changed the inner workings of
departments allowing them to turn inward
and become more disconnected from the
public
new stop and frisk methods further
antagonize community members
often young male and minority who felt
the brunt of unwarranted encounters and
conflict with the local police
these communities especially
impoverished and or minority
felt that this model encouraged police
repression the long-standing concerns of
black citizens began to take center
stage in the 1960s
tired of racial harassment and terror
they challenge not only laws but law
enforcement
and efforts to gain equal civil rights
footing and bring their struggles into
the public purview
despite some advancements in the civil
rights movement this combination of
disconnect and antagonism grew through
the 1970s
as the benefits of public employee
unionization offered new rights for
police departments
despite the power to make more demands
local politicians were able to use
municipal fiscal crises and
mismanagement
to create scapegoats out of police
unions police departments often use
tactics familiar to labor organizers
to help them leverage demands blue flus
or in other words unofficial worker
strikes disguised as uncoordinated sick
days and work slowdowns
grew in number throughout the 1970s and
80s
instead of acquiescing local city
officials would counter these tactics
with budget cuts
police departments were further reduced
in number and went through a period of
what's known as tailorization
duties became highly specialized and
fragmented
causing officers to relinquish some of
them to other public employees
there were unintended consequences
though efficiency was reduced in many
departments
which led to further disconnect between
police departments and the public
today anyone with a smartphone can now
document violent
and often racialized encounters with the
police which has reshaped notions of
public vigilance
and raise concerns about how the police
should fit into society
while some stakeholders across the
country view the police as simply doing
their job
others have begun to call for reforms or
even defunding the police
communities and activists calling for
reforms have pushed for ideas like the
eight can't wait campaign at the
municipal level
which includes policies such as banning
choke holds warning before shooting
and comprehensive incident reporting
others have called for implementation of
required body-worn cameras for police
officers
this didn't reach national attention
until michael brown's family called for
police body cameras in 2014
after police officer darren wilson shot
and killed brown in ferguson missouri
police unions questioned the efficacy of
the cameras while civil liberties
advocates question how they might affect
the rights
of people who have encounters with the
police people have been calling for
defunding the police
argue that shrinking police budgets
could open funds for other social
service programs that might better
fulfill the needs of people going
through mental health crises
alcohol and drug-related incidents and
maybe even issues of interpersonal
violence
others argue that neither reforms nor
defunding are enough
and argue instead for abolition some
point to the unintended consequences
that resulted from defunding the police
in the 1970s
and others point to the history linking
the institutions of policing
to groups like slave patrols and their
histories of racialized harassment and
terror
proponents of this third option have
also pointed to recently available fbi
reports
such as white supremacist infiltration
of law enforcement published in 2006
and elite 2015 counter-terrorism policy
guide
this guide documented how white
supremacist organizations have been
attempting to infiltrate police
departments
by having members attempt to join as
recruits or encouraging relationships
between these organizations members
and individual officers these activists
look to past and present abolition
movements against slavery
and against prisons for inspiration what
the future holds for law enforcement in
the united states is anyone's guess
perhaps things will settle and nothing
will change but what the history of law
enforcement points to is an
ever-changing institution with a
troubled and for some
troubling past hey originates this is
just a reminder that you can become a
member of our patreon page
starting at three dollars a month you
can gain access to a patrons only feed
with all types of cool behind-the-scenes
footage
as well as 24-hour early access to every
new video
and at some of our higher tiers you can
also get other great benefits so check
out the link down in the description and
i'll see you soon