The Contributors And Their Contributions To Modern Security Essay, Research Paper

The Contributors and their Contributions to Modern Security

The need for security has been around since the beginning of recorded time. Many came together in an effort to protect themselves and their belongings, from such threats as animals, weather and other humans. This grouping also made it easier to find food and satisfy their need for socialization. They donned weapons, erected walls, built barriers, and made laws, in an attempt to shield themselves from danger and fear. Humans evolved, as did their types of security, weaponry and barriers. Often, rulers selected individuals to aid in the enforcement of laws, as well as provide security for the ruler himself. Many of those individuals were men chosen from the military, which were often ruthless, and dangerous.

The Romans relied upon the military force of the legions. To place the military on a stable foundation and disperse the power that the legions held, Augustus, the Emperor of Rome, created The Praetorian Guard, a type of bodyguard police, The Urban Cohorts, which were comprised of soldiers with police and military duties. Also, The Vigiles, large groups of firefighter police.

During the Middle Ages, the Serfs, working for Noblemen, who answered to the King, worked the land, provided arms and fought in the Kings’ wars. In exchange, the Serfs received food and security from the noblemen. Anglo-Saxons brought the idea of mutual responsibility for protection of individuals. Tithings, a Grouping of ten families, collectively assumed responsibility for maintaining law and order. The tithing system was later replaced with the Frankpledge system after the Norman Conquest. The Frankpledge system demanded that all free Englishman swear to keep the peace. The Magna Charta, challenged the feudal system during King John’s reign as his lords revolted and forced him to sign, giving all Englishmen “due process” of law. The Magna Charta is the basis for modern justice.

The Statute of Westminster formalized the practice in criminal justice and apprehension of criminals. The watch and ward system required townsmen to patrol the cities during the night, while the constables patrolled during the day. Those who did not serve were placed in the stocks. The hue and cry system served as alarm for the citizens of the town or city. When a criminal resisted the watchman cried out and the people of the town came to his aid. Enforcement of the hue and cry was brought about by the assize of arms, which required every male between fifteen and sixty years of age to keep a weapon in the home as a “harness to keep the peace.”

Many merchants were not satisfied with the quality of the protection provided them, therefore they hired private police. These private police guarded their businesses, investigated crimes, and recovered stolen property. Oliver Cromwell attempted to use his army as a police force as a means of crime prevention. There was no effective police mechanism between the people and his army. Therefore, the people resisted and the watch and ward system remained the primary crime control procedure until the industrial revolution.

The Industrial Revolution of England brought about many changes. Famine hit the rural community, forcing many into the cities to find jobs at mills and factories. Crime intensified within the cities brought on by the countless poverty stricken people trying to survive. Furthermore, Political extremists triggered angry mobs, which caused riots. Because there was no organized police to handle riots, a magistrate ordered the “Riot Act” and called in the military.

In London, 1748 Henry Fielding was made the Chief Magistrate of Bow Street. During this period of time there was no police force. He was known for his leniency in dealing with petty theft. He also wrote and published pamphlets about the poverty in London, and the causes of the rising crime. Fielding envisioned an idea that the people may join forces, go out into the streets, and stop crime before it had a chance to cause ruin.

Fielding chose six men to form a volunteer force. These men “swept clean” the Bow Street area. Many were arrested, and the rest fled from the neighborhood. Even after Henry Fielding’s death, his brother John carried on his ideas. The Bow Street volunteers eventually became a professional outfit known as the Bow Street Runners, the first detective agency in England.

In 1785, William Pitt proposed a bill to establish a strong police force, to act through out the city. The bill was rejected by the press, the public and the justices and was defeated. Another attempt at reform in 1792, his Middlesex Justice bill established seven public offices, each having three paid magistrates, and six paid constables.

Patrick Colquhoun was one of the magistrates under Pitt’s Justice bill. Colquhoun offered “ A Treatise on the Police of Metropolis” and showed startling statistics pointing out the need for a large police force, and also believed in separating the police from judicial power. His treatise was a milestone in using statistics in correlation with crime.

Sir Robert Peel, “the father of modern policing”, originated the Metropolitan Police of London in 1829. The police were appointed and paid by the city, and their objective was to be the prevention of crime. Sir Robert Peel had nine principles regarding the police:

 The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.

 The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions.

 Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.

 The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.

 Police seek and preserve public favour not by catering to public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.

 Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient.

 Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.

 Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.

 The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.

Although the objective was on crime prevention, the focus eventually turned to investigation and apprehension of criminals. Therefore, the need for private police was still great.

Allen Pinkerton was one of the developers of the railroad police, as well as contract security forces. He was appointed the deputy sheriff of Cook County, and in 1843, Chicago’s first detective. Pinkerton later resigned his position due to economic pressure. He then started the Pinkerton National Detective agency, and focused on apprehending railroad criminals, and setting up security systems for railroads. During the Civil War, Pinkerton was called on by President Lincoln to establish a secret service department, where he did intelligence work for the Union Army. In the 1860’s and 70’s Pinkerton’s agency received National attention by apprehending train robbers and bandits. Currently Pinkerton Inc. is the largest private security organization in the U.S. It became a public corporation in 1965 and continues to grow annually.

*Quotes taken from Introduction to Private Security And Introduction to Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice 6th ed. by Karen M. Hess & Henry M. Wrobleski

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