Police and Policing – Change in Police Role Essay

Introduction

Before 1829, enforcement of law among citizens was done by police constables who volunteered with the assistance of watchmen. This was before the metropolitan police act was passed in 1829. (Martin, 1969 p. 23) argued, “It was only during serious circumstances such as public disorder when the British armed forces came for assistance as they were more organized to handle such situations”. Before the passing of the police action, the policing system used to be generally disorganized, and investigation he criminal cases used to be inefficient. In 1748, a novelist by the name Henry Fielding was appointed to be a magistrate and he introduced a detective force under the name Bow-street, runners which was initially a courtroom back in 1739. The detective force comprised of eight constables who received empowerment to enforce the magistrate’s decisions, in addition to the assistance from volunteer constables as well as watchmen. They all joined efforts to implement the decision on the investigation of crime in support of the magistrate. Foot and horse patrol was established in 1805 to act as the first form of policing without uniforms and latertter in 1829 came to be the metropolitan police. Members of the public were privately paid so as to catch thieves and another and later forwarding them to the magistrate for trials.

Policing after 1829

Law enforcement before 1829 lacked proper organization and was largely inefficient and every time, there used to be a public controversy as the members of the public was not satisfied with the role of policing. This situation led to the analysis of the prevailing policing system by then, through a committee formed by the members of parliament. Some of the findings made by the committee were make to make policing system standard and official; where those employed in the profession would also be well paid. The profession was also to be organized in a more civilian fashion as well as make it more answerable to the members of the public. These ideas were forwarded to the parliament by Sir Robert Peel where they were fully approved through passing of metropolitan act that made them official in 1829 (Bunyan, 1976).

According to (Terrill, 1986),the reason why the ideas received enormous support from the rest members of parliament was the expansion of London geographically, as well as advancement in economic progress due the industrial revolution that was going on by then. The local policing system had been maintained by constables and watchmen who volunteered, but it was by then proving to be inefficient in serving the community in terms of preventing as well as detecting of crime. After the passing of the act on June 1829, arrangement of policing in the capital was entrusted to Robert Peel under his full control.

The new implementation of the act was encountered by public fears as the members of the public were not comfortable with the militaries that were deployed in mater to do with domestic affairs, as they were not used to this before. To counter this problem, Robert Peel made the arrangement of the force in a structure that was more of civilian than official or parliamentary. There was need to create neutrality in implementation of the police force and this called for the manufacturing of police uniforms in blue color as opposed to the usual red color which was associated with military force. The officers were armed with wooden truncheon along with rattle as a way of symbolizing the willingness of the police to assist. Military titles were removed as a way of recognizing police ranks but rather other methods were used with the exception of the title of police sergeant. Initially, police forces were not allowed to carry firearms on regular basis but Sir Robert made authorization to the police commissioner to buy pocket pistols. These would only be used on rare circumstances such as when the police faced a crime situation where firearms were being used. After sometime, the pocket pistols were decommissioned from police service and were replaced with revolvers because breaking of houses had now become a common problem requiring intervention of police force. Most of the criminals who broke into houses were usually armed as a result of the members of the public having been allowed to bear firearms. Several policemen were killed by armed gangs both outside the district and metropolis and therefore, there was a public call and debate that followed on whether police should be allowed to carry more sophisticated arms (Martienssen, 1953).

Police commissioner, therefore, made an appeal to Robert Peel requiring those police officers working outside the district to be supplied with revolvers. The request was granted but only on the condition that, this happened in the senior police officer’s opinion that had to have trust on the police officer regarding safe use of the firearms with discretion. It was from then that any officers who thought he/she needed an arm, could be provided according to the requirement. According to (Sparrow, 1990 p. 49), “This practice was exercised till 1936 though towards the end of the century; much of the system had been phased out”. Patrols by the metropolitan police became active in the street after 1829 though there was resistance from parts of the community who perceived them as a threat to their civil liberties.

How technology has changed the role of police

Around 1960s, emergency calls were taken by larger stations and later forwarded to police patrols. Before the introduction of computers and fax machines, telegraphic printer systems were used to link stations. If registrations detail of a vehicle were required, a message was sent to the registration room in Wellington where the registration had been done through a teleprinter. The manual cards that were used were normally kept in the cabinet. Phone calls were not permitted unless there was an urgent need and therefore. Most of the operations comprised of paperwork where hand-written forms were used by staff in recording of job details from those who called and in keeping track of the cars that were in patrol. Regarding the number of phone calls made or received, no records were made (Ainsworth, 1995).

Introduction of wanganui computer in 1976

With the introduction of this computer in 1976, vehicle’s registration numbers could now be properly stored along with other criminal records as well as massive amount of information required by police for future reference. A new tool known as computer assisted dispatch was introduced, that had capacity to keep records of calls received from the members of public as well as keeping track of patrols by the police. This dispatch system was used in auk land, Christchurch and Wellington only, where operation rooms in each of the cities were combined to form single centers which were more equipped. The manual system continued to be used in most parts of the country though when checking cars and people, they could use wanganui computer system (Bunyan, 2008).

Research has shown that, though the system was a significant progress, it lacked mapping system and therefore, police still made use of map books and their general knowledge on the localities to carry their patrols successfully. Only police officers were allowed to staff the control rooms but in late 1980s, civilians were also incorporated in less numbers into the control rooms although. They had very minimal role however because most of the roles were preserved for the police officers (Murphy, 2007).

Another significant change took place in 1996 as a result of expansion of the workload in operation rooms to a level that could not be managed by wanganui computer. The wanganui computer system had aged and was no longer in a capacity to record the much data available. The wanaganui computer had to be replaced with a state-of-art system card which was to be maintained by public safety Ltd through Intergraph system. With the expansion of operation centers, it almost became impossible to manage the control rooms with police officers exclusively and this called for civilian staff to be trained in communications. This program started in early 1995 and has led to reduction in staffing by police officers by about 20 percent through incorporation of civilian to perform tasks in the communication centers (Sampson, 1989).

Police now serve a greater social control function than they did then especially through undercover policing which has been greatly focused in criminology as well as sociology due to the enhanced technology. Through hiring of specialists and by use of modern technology, police are now significant agents of official control. They are in a better situation to shape the trend of consequences caused by disturbance as well as conflicts among the members of the society. Police are today more active in social control in a more effective and efficient manner. Research has shown that, a modern police is unlikely to engage in an excessive response if the incident is minor. There is also more coordination in the police force which means minimal breakdown in their organization. This has ensured that, the strategies in policing are always sufficient and have the capacity to halt conflicting situations in the society at any moment (Martin, 1969).

Hiring of experts in the management of policing and high interaction to enhance effective policing has enabled police not to only focus on the crimes that have already occurred but also to prevent crime from taking place. Initially, police could actually cause more frequent deviance and were only able to control crime that was visible. Today, undercover system requires just a slight provocation and most of the crime that is invisible is properly managed through use of anti-crime programs and newly introduced technological equipment that are highly sophisticated. The strategy of policing though undercover system is also advantageous because it receives little resistance from the members of the society who have negative attitude towards use of coercion by police (Sparrow, 1990).

Conclusion

After the introduction of technology changes through the use of CARD, there have been massive changes in training of police officers. Permanent and dedicated specialists are now being employed by police to perform roles in the communication centers. Their selection is done through analysis of specific requirement based on their role where they are later taken through extensive training. Of late, mapping has been computerized through the modern technology and it is now possible to manage calls as well as radio systems. Police officers can today record transactions through precise measurements and this means the data that is provided by the police investigation department is also precise. All the calls presented at the communication centers can now be accounted by the police. Police patrols also just log on at the beginning of their shift, and it is possible for the dispatchers to identify the location of the units at any given time which is a major step forward regarding the safety of the staff. Multiple calls can be handled by the centers of communication all at the same time from the entire regions of the country. Police are now using technical systems that research has found to be among the best in the world and have stopped using map books or teleprinters and this achievement has taken less than 50 years to be implemented.

References

1. Ainsworth P. (1995): Psychology and policing in a changing world: John Wiley & Sons pp35-39
2. Bunyan T. (1976): The history and practice of the political police in Britain: Friedman pp34-37
3. Bunyan T. (2008): The history and practice of the political police in Britain: Friedman pp102-105
4. Martienssen A. (1953): Crime and the Police: Penguin Books pp56-60
5. Martin J. (1969): The police: a study in manpower: the evolution of the service in England and Wales, 1829-1965: Heinemann Educational Publishers pp23-26
6. Murphy P. (2007): Organizing for Community Policing: Sage Publications Inc pp50-54
7. Sampson R. (1989): Community structure and crime: Testing social-disorganization theory: University of Chicago Press pp24-27
8. Sparrow M. (1990): A new era for policing: Basic Books pp49-54
9. Terrill R. (1986): The State of the Police: American Political Science Review: JSTOR pp19-24