Police Brutality

Police Influence on Society

Write a 700- to 1,050-word paper that describes how the historical development of policing in the United States relates to the current relationship between police and different ethnic groups and social classes.

Support your discussion with examples from law enforcement practices, court procedures, corrections populations, or all three.

Policing in the United States has gone through many changes and developments over time based on the constant changes within society. With technology continuously growing, the addition of larger networks thanks to social media, and the ever-changing laws and policies police forces across the country have had to update their departments to stay modernized. While new training and procedures may help the development of policing may help officers keep up with modern trends, they do not necessarily focus on changing stereotypes and racial bias when it comes to crimes and criminals that were set decades ago.

According to Kelling & Moore (1988), “policing, like all professions, learns from experience,” while most of that experience is, “guided by the lessons of police history.” The problem with this is that the lessons of police history do not always fit with the changes happening within the American society. The current relationship between police and certain ethnic groups or social classes has not fully developed but has instead been bound to historical norms rather than modern changes.

Williams & Murphy (1990) explain that, “slavery, segregation, discrimination, and racism have affected the development of American police departments-and how these factors have affected the quality of policing in the Nation’s minority communities.” Studies as far back as the 1840s into the early 1900s focuses on an era where introduced to “new police.” These new police, “derived both their authority and resources from local political leaders,” which led most of their focus and, “bias toward northern, urban,...