[The Policing History (“Political Era” 1830s-1900)]

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The Policing History (“Political Era” 1830s-1900)

Politics influenced every aspect of American policing in the nineteenth century, and the period from the 1830s to 1900 is often called the “political era”. There are three Eras of American Policing

The political era: 1830s-1900

The professional era: 1900-1960s

The era of conflicting pressures: 1960s-present

A Lack of Personnel Standards

Police departments in the political era had no personnel standards as we understand them today. Police Officers were selected completely on their political associations.

In most departments, recruits received no formal preservice training. Cincinnati created one of the first police academies in 1888, but it lasted only a few years. New York City established a School of Pistol Practice in 1895, but offered no training in any other aspect of policing until 1909. Even then, a 1913 investigation found it gave no tests and all recruits were automatically passed. (1)

Many German Americans served as police officers in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and St. Louis, where German immigration was heavy. After the Civil War, some African Americans were appointed police officers in northern cities where the Republicans, the party of Abraham Lincoln, were in power.

Patrol Work in the Political Era

Routine police patrol in the political era was hopelessly inefficient. Officers patrolled on foot and were spread very thin. In Chicago, beats were three and four miles long. In many cities entire areas were not patrolled at all. The telephone did not exist, and so it was impossible for citizens to call about crime and disorder. And with no patrol cars, officers could not have responded anyway. (2)

Supervision was weak or nonexistent. Sergeants also patrolled on foot and could not keep track of the officers under their command. Many reports from those years indicate that officers easily escaped duty and spent much of their time in barbershops and saloons. Bad weather—rain, snow, and extremely hot weather—encouraged officers to spend their time in bars or barbershops.

The first primitive communications systems involved a network of call boxes that allowed patrol officers to call precinct stations. Officers soon learned to sabotage them, however: leaving receivers off the hook (which took the early systems out of operation), or lying about where they actually were. The lack of an effective communications system made it difficult if not impossible for citizens to contact the police. In the event of a crime or disturbance, a citizen had to go out into the street and find an officer. (3)

The Police and the Public

There was never a “golden age” of policing where the police were friendly, knowledgeable about their neighborhoods, and enjoyed good relations with the public. There were so few police officers they could not possibly have known many people on their beats. There was a high turnover rate among officers, and the population was even more mobile than today. Many reports, moreover, indicate that many police officers drank on duty and frequently used excessive physical force. As a result, citizens were very disrespectful. Juvenile gangs, for example, made a sport of throwing rocks at the ...