Watching the Watchmen: Best Practices for Police Body Cameras
article on police body cams
Principles of Law Enforcement
In Principles of Law Enforcement, Students will learn about the basics of policing, history, and issues facing police operations.
The following topics will be discussed within the course:
Police history and organization
Organizing public security in U.S.
Organizing police departments
Becoming a police officer
Police role and discretion
Police culture, personalities, and stress
Minorities in policing
Police ethics and deviance
Police operations: patrol, investigations, police and their clients, community policing, police and the law
Critical issues in policing: computers, technology, criminalistics in policing
Homeland Security
Policing has many roots throughout history and most of modern policing in America was established based on English policing. Some notiable police units throughout history includes:
Tithings, shire-reeves, constables
Night watches
Sheriffs
Slave Patrols
Police forces:
In 1838, the city of Boston established the first American police force
New York City in 1845
Chicago in 1851
New Orleans and Cincinnati in 1853
Philadelphia in 1855
Newark, NJ and Baltimore in 1857
All major U.S. cities had municipal police forces in place by the 1880's.
Role of Law Enforcement:
Police officers are both part of the community they serve and the government protecting that community
Promote public safety and uphold the rule of law
Enforce laws and follow laws
Most commonly used definition: "A public official has discretion whenever the effective limits of his power leave him free to make a choice among possible courses of action or inaction". Termed by professor Kenneth Culp Davis
