Slave Patrols History

I do not remember the exact age, but when I was in my pre-teens, I always wanted to know the origin of police officers. I always wanted to imagine what was like during the 1700 or 1800s. Was it like the Wild West, were sheriffs or cowboys like John Wayne are fighting crime, just like they were fighting the Indians. I went to catholic school and the teachers do not teach very well on history because there was a gap and it was filled with whys and unknowns. However, I knew it was just imagination or thought, and I hope I will eventually find out. And I did, a decade later, to my surprise it originated from slavery. They were called slave patrols. It makes a lot of sense as you get older and especially as a criminology student. I always have

They explained that slave patrols purpose is to protect the whites and apprehend the runaway slaves. Slave patrollers job really is to make sure that the slaves follow the slave codes, codes consisting of slaves did not have the right to bear arms or no slaves cannot testify in the courtroom unless present with another slave. Violating a code became severe, as the journal explain, slave patrols were not only looking at the trouble slaves but the status of free blacks. It started in South Carolina in 1704, where many white residents trained in military to protect against the Spanish invasion. Thaw was even inscribed in the law in 1704 where the government wanted to establish two military groups, one defending against the Spanish and one against the runaway or trouble slaves. Most of the slave patrol were free white men that usually consist of 10 people. Some of the slave patrollers participated in their duties because they wanted to avoid the military. South Carolina really took duties of the slave patrollers serious when deciding to create fine for the patroller when they are not doing their jobs and initiated payment. Slave patrols were allowed to trespass any homes of whites or blacks, if they were suspected of harboring a runaway slave. South Carolina and the

However the true facts is that these texts, which are represented by famous publishers like McGraw-Hill and Prentice Hall are ignoring the facts about slavery and slave patrols. These text stride to give you the best context on the American judicial system, but did not talked about the event that started it all. Criminologist discuss in the journal that police officers are getting the most attention and given today’s policing history is essential to understand this systematic racism we called law enforcement. This journal deserve an 8 because it gets a good look at the lack of education about slavery in textbooks. I wish there was more history on slave patrols, but the criminologists made me think about policing today. Maybe, lack of education on slavery and slavery patrol is what creating high numbers of police brutality on blacks. And something like changing the curriculum in the kindergarten through 12th system maybe a start of a