“Police are people and the people are the police” CJA 214 January 9, 2012 Jeremy Leach In Bury, Lancashire, on February 5, 1788, the “Father” of modern day policing was born. Through his work and studies of public service, Sir Robert Peel developed principles and policies that have impacted what is considered modern day policing.
He created what is commonly known as the Peelian Principles. While Sir Robert Peel’s principles still stand out in law enforcement policies today, nine points of policing stand true today.Sir Robert Peel attended Harrow School and Christ Church in Oxford, where he studied classics and mathematics. He was raised to be a politician.
At the age of twenty one, his father bought him a parliamentary seat of Cashel in County Tipperary. He later was appointed to the office of home secretary of Ireland, where he attempted to bring an end of corruption in Irish government. (Spartacus Educational, 2012) One of Peel’s greatest accomplishments that significantly impacted today’s policing is how he revamped law enforcement in London.After hearing a lot of concern from the parliament for safety of citizens, he developed principles, which today are known as the Peelian Principles.
They are as follows: * Every police officer should be issued an identification number, to assure accountability for his actions. * Whether the police are effective is not measured on the number of arrests, but on the crime rate decreasing. * Above all else, an effective authority figure knows trust and accountability are paramount.Hence, Peel’s most often quoted principle: The police are the public and the public are the police.
(Lentz, Chaires, 2007, Peelian Principles) The first principle mentioned is that every police officer should be issued an identification number, assuring accountability for his/her actions. This principle is still used across the country. Most municipalities issue their police officers with a badge number. Everything an officer has or will do is tagged with his or her badge number. It is the way an officer’s activity is recorded at any given time.Police officers are held accountable for everything they do.
The public is always watching. Police officers are members of the communities they work in. They are just paid to protect and serve their neighbors within that community. In addition to developing principles in order to maintain safety of citizens, Peel also developed nine principles of policing. All these principles are still used today to keep order. The nine principles are as follows: 1.
The basic mission for whom the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder. 2.The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon the public approval of police actions. 3. Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observation of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.
4. The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force. 5. Police seek and preserve public favor 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.
7. 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 members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent upon every citizen in the interests of community welfare. 8.Police should always direct their action towards their functions, and never appear to misuse the powers of the judiciary. 9. The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.
(New Westminster Police Service, 2009, Principles of Policing) Peel’s principles are used every day to protect and serve the citizens of this country. On a daily basis, law enforcement officers use the sixth principle mentioned above. In today’s policing, this principle is called a “Use of force continuum. This allows the officer to maintain control of a situation without being excessive. In addition to the sixth principle, the principle of police maintaining a relationship with the public is evident in all municipalities. Today, police officers are expected to not only be a part of their communities, but also to set an example, and to favor the law over public opinion.
Sir Robert Peel and his policing efforts have lasted throughout trials. His development of a force that would provide safety and service to citizens around the world has highly impacted society today.His belief throughout time of “the police are people and the people are the police” is commonly practiced today as well. Reference Lentz, Susan A.
; Chaires, Robert H. (2007). The invention of Peel’s principles: A study of policing ‘textbook’ history. Journal of Criminal Justice 35 (1 :69-79. “New Westminister Police Service: Sir Robert Peel’s Nine Principles” (http://www. nwpoilce.
org/peel. html). Spartacus Educational. (2012).
Sir Robert Peel. Retrieved from Spartacus Educational website: http://www. spartacus. schoolnet. co.
uk/PRPeel. htm
