Law enforcement and society

The first modern police force, commonly said to be the London Metropolitan Police, established in 1829, promoted the preventive role of police as a deterrent to urban crime and disorder [cite book|last =Brodeur| first =Jean-Paul| coauthors =Eds., Kevin R. E. McCormick and Livy A. Visano| title =”High Policing and Low Policing: Remarks about the Policing of Political Activities,” Understanding Policing| publisher =Canadian Scholars’ Press| year =1992|location = |pages =284-285, 295|id = ISBN 1-55130-005-2] .Law enforcement however has only ever constituted a small portion of policing activity [cite book| last =Walker| first =Samuel| title =A Critical History of Police Reform: The Emergence of Professionalism| publisher =Lexington Books| year =1977| location =Lexington, MT| pages =143| id = ISBN 978-0-6690-1292-7] .Policing has included an array of activities in different contexts, but the predominant ones are concerned with the preservation of order and the provision of services [cite book| last =Neocleous| first =Mark| title =Fabricating Social Order: A Critical History of Police Power| publisher =Pluto Press| year =2004| location = | pages =93-94| id = ISBN 978-0-7453-1489-1] .

History

In some societies, in the late 18th century and early 19th century, these developed within the context of maintaining a layered societal structure and the protection of property [cite book |last=Siegel |first=Larry J. |title=Criminolgy |pages=515,516 |publisher=Thomson Wadsworth |year=2005 [http://books.google.com/books?id=PRmhu3M2jv8C&pg=PA515&lpg=PA515&dq=police+american+colonies&source=web&ots=Dxk8AuzQR6&sig=KokKB0NmB0Gs5DWxF3Jl3OhQQcI&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result] ] .In the United Kingdom in the late 18th century: quote |The modern police department was born out of...the desire of the wealthy to restructure . . society. The swelling population of urban poor, whose sic|miniscule wages could hardly sustain them, heightened the need for police protectionIn the United States in the 19th century: quote |The police role was only minimally directed at law enforcement. Its primary function was serving as the enforcement arm of the reigning polical power, protecting property, and keeping control of the ever increasing numbers of foreign immigrantsFact|date=September 2008

In 1690 John Locke [ [http://www.constitution.org/jl/2ndtr09.htm John Locke: Second Treatise of Civil Government: Chapter 9] ] wrote that

Similarly, Adam Smith [ [http://www.adamsmith.org/smith/won-b5-c1-pt-2.htm Adam Smith - An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations - The Adam Smith Institute] ] described how

This close link between property and government (and thus police function) was also noted by John Jay [http://www.bartleby.com/73/764.html Frank Monaghan, John Jay, chapter 15, p. 323 (1935)] , who repeatedly said that

According to Monaghan, this quote |was one of his favorite maxims and by US Founding Father James Madison [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=BjkOAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA450&lpg=PA450&dq=landholders+ought+to+have+a+share+in+the+government+to+support+these+invaluable+interests+and+to+balance+and+check+the+other&source=web&ots=cnTSolkpJJ&sig=fuggu7aSK5rBblWw90eOYRmFbf0#PPA450,M1] ] , who declared that government

Given that the crimes of governments and associated elite institutions have historically been greater than those of the "smaller" criminals they prosecuted, and that such institutional influence has been perceived, by some groups,Who|date=September 2008 as a promoter of violence, alienation and socioeconomic disparity which gives rise to crime, the institutional role of police has been criticized. [ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wage_slavery#Human_nature.2C_law.2C_and_war Wage Slavery - Human nature, law, and war] ]

Law enforcement power

ocial evolution and dynamics

References

ee also

*Police
*Law enforcement agency