Learning Objectives

  • Examine the English roots of American policing.
  • Describe how slave patrols and watch groups evolved into formal police agencies in colonial America.
  • Examine the ways that politics influenced American policing during the political era.
  • Explain how the adoption of technology and actions by police reformers changed American policing during the reform era.
  • Discuss the strategies used by some police agencies to strengthen and in some cases build strong relationships between the police and the public during the community/problem-solving era.
  • Identify how the terrorist attacks on 9/11 increased the use of intelligence by American police agencies during the Homeland Security era.