Political Controversy: The Initial Purpose Of Police

The current view of police officers has been a political controversy that makes a person wonder about the initial purpose of police to exist. An article written by Jill Lepore stating, “To police is to maintain law and order, but the word derives from polis—the Greek for “city,” or “polity”—by way of politia, the Latin for “citizenship.” The initial objectives of police during the 19th and early 20th centuries were to maintain, deter, and protect. Trying to maintain the societal morale by keeping citizens in order, specifically minorities “in-line” through whatever means is necessary. To then protect those that carry what the police define as good moral standing. As well as being enforcers of societal norms, they want to keep who they can keep

The “it’s just us against them” mentality began to deteriorate in the 1960’s, especially with the call out on police behavior becoming more public to people.

Police managed to accommodate the people in an anticlimactic way. They have done so by losing a good amount of power over the years due to the cruel way they have approached policing in general. This may seem as though it may not be seen as part of an objective, but it is. The initiatives and purposes of police changed and by this point the jobs of officers have been identified and defined by the mid-1900’s. During these times it was a Moreso form of new management that was brought in to help evolve the police with the times. As mentioned, the Pape case before, but also the Miranda case that introduced the United States to Miranda rights. a lot more control over the years since it was officially established in the 1960’s. They were given constraints thanks to many cases being made about the unfair

Again, before such constraints were applied, there existed many opportunities that police used to help support political machines for not so good reasons. As mentioned within the power point “Police were paid salaries but not very well—which raised the possibility of bribes and grafts, especially in regulating illegal businesses and vice, who were expected to pay police, who paid up to the machine. Police owed their livelihood to political bosses, which made them very loyal, and also very difficult to punish.” Which then becomes even more emphasized the cases for citizens. These protective clauses did not completely cover all ground since throughout the 19th-20th century police defending higher powers and conducting or not preventing acts of violence to minorities still occurred. Moreso, laws such as those involved with immigration became even more strict which allowed the police to aim for communities outside Black Americans by initiating searches and investigations as mentioned in the article about the invention of policing, “[President Lyndon Johnson].Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act, which had the effect of diverting money from social programs to policing.” Highlighting that factor. The Presidents and