The Three Eras Of Policing In The United States

The development of policing in the United States followed the policing model in England and developed over decades. It was not until the 1880s that the United States established municipal police forces that were present in all major U.S. cities. These municipal police forces were similar in that they had public support, officers were employed and not volunteers, the departments had established protocols and rules, and the departments were accountable to the government (Lundman 1980). Policing is said to have gone through various stages the last few decades. Hooper (2014) points out that policing in the United States has evolved through three eras: The Political Era that had close ties to politics, the Reform Era that was developed because of the deficiencies of the Political Era and then the Community Era, that focused on Community Policing. “The U.S. version of extreme decentralization not only places us in the minority among nations but also attracts criticism as being too complex, inefficient, and expensive” (Reichel, 2013).

In the U.S each state has local law enforcement agency whose responsibility is the primary enforcement of state laws. Police Officers in the United States have jurisdiction over city codes and state laws but no right to ensure that federal law are upheld. Each state has police agencies that are tasked with a specific area of responsibility; “for example, states may have police agencies responsible for patrolling the highways in the state, providing police services to state colleges and universities, enforcing state regulations of items such as alcohol, and policing the state’s parks and recreation areas” (Reichel,