Federalism in the Law Enforcement of the US

Introduction

The US has an elite system of law enforcement. Federalism is the governing theories of the system of the US. The law enforcement in the US started off as a group of volunteers, now the Constitutions runs this system. Many events shaped the system of the present-day law enforcement. The law enforcement agencies follow the Federalist approach to ensure the betterment of the citizens of the US.

Discussion

History of American Police Force

The police of America has always been influenced by the system of England. The very start of policing, the citizens themselves were responsible for law making and abiding. The English term for this policing system was 'kin police'. The relatives (in one family) looked after one another. The colonized America followed this type of policing until the mid 19th Century. The 'kin police' were usually male volunteers. Citizens who volunteered as the police, they took part in social services (Bopp and Schultz, 1972). The crimes, of those times, were not as serious as today. The police system, in England and Colonial America, was not forceful because there was no proper system and the volunteers kept changing.Later in the years, the reliability of law enforcing passed from volunteer men to troops of men within a community. This then spanned onto a marked territory, and these groups of men joined together to form 'tythings' (Kroes et.al., 1988). These tythings then grouped into hundreds, and hundreds into shires. Personnel form the tything groups were chosen to be a 'shire reeve' (sheriff). A proper system of policing started by these shire reeves because they were responsible of looking after the activities. the tythings carried pin their respective shires.the Police system in England inlfuenced the same system in America. It included sheriffs, constables and watch-groups (which consisted of citizens). Sheriffs were the heads of the so-called police system (Sage, 2010). He was responsible for collecting taxes, catching criminals and the court work. The watch-group was not a reliable source because the citizens (who were divided into day watch-groups and night watch-groups) lacked the sense of responsibility. These watch groups were not able to control the chaos that was slowly spreading through the country, which started in the late 17th century. America observed huge increment in the population, spanning over the whole 17th Century. Many cities of America had flood of immigrants coming in from all around the world, especially from the Europe. The growth in population resulted in unrest throughout the country. The tension increased with the addition of every group. The clashes within the immigrant groups and Americans were usually because of ethnic and racial differences (Best, 2001). This problem persisted throughout the Colonial America, in the North and South regions. The watch groups were simple men, the clashes and discord among the people were too much for the watchmen to handle. A more formal approach to policing started to take place. The government (of those times) took more interest in the Northern states and neglected the Southern ...