Writing Resources
Throughout human history there has always been a need for rules laws dictating human behavior Not only do we find rules and laws in large complex societies but also cities and communities We find some of the first known laws in the year 2300 BCE in ancient Samaria where the ancient Samarian rulers codified offenses into written words Linda S Miller 2018 Since those early days mankind has continued to establish laws governing the behavior of people towards one another If we fast forwarding to the 17th century England we see that law enforcement was divided into two separate functions There was a day watch which was composed mainly of constables who functions as jailers and prefilled other government duties and a night watch which was composed of citizens from the community Linda S Miller 2018 The night watch duties seem like they were more emergency management oriented I came to this conclusion because their duties primarily consisted of watching out for fires and bad weather but they were also responsible for keeping an eye on the community and watching out for wrongdoers Any citizens who saw a crime being committed was expected to cry out for help By the end of the 18th century we see a rise in the number of citizens being hired by the wealthy as watchmen which paved the way towards having paid police officers in England By the Industrial Revolution England was suffering from low unemployment and poverty which of course caused a rise in crime Sir Robert peel was appointed as home Sec where he proposed that private citizens be hired as full time police officers Parliament then convened and signed the Metropolitan police act in 1829 and this is where we see some of the first modern concepts of policing In the early 19th century the purpose of police officers was to prevent crime from happening not to detect them The roles of policed primarily to maintain order and to patrol the local community
