Political Era Of Law Enforcement

The law enforcement profession has evolved, transformed, and improved over time. However, the basic concept to protect citizens, answer calls for service, and arrest offenders has withstood centuries of changes. Throughout the evolution, several periods in history have defined policing. Understanding where law enforcement came from is important to where they are going.

The political era was during a time shortly after Sir Robert Peel created the Metropolitan Police Department, the first modern police force in England in 1829 (Reiner, 1992). This era lasted from 1840 until the 1920s and was filled with political party loyalty and almost all law enforcement appointments based on that loyalty (Cole & Gertz, 2013, p. 101). The second era was the

104). Local law enforcement agencies can use crime-mapping programs like Graphing Information Systems (GIS) that digitally maps crime information in specific areas, which can be sent to a fusion center and compared with other intelligence information in order to prevent terrorist attacks (Cole & Gertz, 2013, p. 104). Another resource local law enforcement agencies can use to fight terrorist incidents is CPTED, Crime Prevention through Environmental Design. The theory behind CPTED is to use physical environmental features to deter terrorism as well as fear of crime (Cole & Gertz, 2013, p. 104). Examples can include managed controlled access points to buildings, increase use of surveillance systems, more lighting, reduced foliage, and open area concepts. Local law enforcement can work with local businesses and residents to create crime free areas that reduce the fear of crime for citizens.

The creation of the fusion centers have given local, state, and federal agencies a centralized location to funnel information into to be analyzed by trained technicians to locate possible terrorists’ attacks across the country. Although computers, crime mapping, and other advanced technological innovations were improved since the community-policing era, technology alone did not create the information era. Unfortunately, several distinctive terrorist

Information, intelligence, and community policing has transformed since September 11, 2001. Although and argument could be made that information only supplements the community policing era; however, information and intelligence drives law enforcement efforts and is central to their deployment strategies. Since that tragic day local, state, and federal agencies have worked together and monitored social media for potential threats, use surveillance cameras to monitor potential targets, create GIS mapping models, as well as many other crime-fighting advancements. Technology will only advance and has become a smarter way for law enforcement to deploy their limited resources. Without information or intelligence, police officers could still do their job because the basic duties have not changed, but it may take longer to solve a case or to prevent another terrorist attack. However, law enforcement depends and expects real-time updated actionable information to do their job. Information has changed the way police work is controlled and transformed law enforcement into a new era, the information