Origins of the police

Works in theory

The Five Points district of lower Manhattan, painted by George Catlin in 1827. New York’s first free Black settlement, it became a mixed-race slum, home to Blacks and Irish alike, and a focal point for the stormy collective life of the new working class. Cops were invented to gain control over neighborhoods and populations like this. The Five Points district of lower Manhattan, painted by George Catlin in 1827. New York’s first free Black settlement, Five Points was also a destination for Irish immigrants and a focal point for the stormy collective life of the new working class. Cops were invented to gain control over neighborhoods and populations like this.

In England and the United States, the police were invented within the space of just a few decades—roughly from 1825 to 1855.

The new institution was not a response to an increase in crime, and it really didn’t lead to new methods for dealing with crime. The most common way for authorities to solve a crime, before and since the invention of police, has been for someone to tell them who did it.

Besides, crime has to do with the acts of individuals, and the ruling elites who invented the police were responding to challenges posed by collective…

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2 thoughts on “Origins of the police

  1. This is not an either/or prospect. Urban police (as opposed to rural and feudal sheriffs) were created in the midst of the increased organization of civic life in the aftermath of urbanization and industrialization. You should be encouraged to know that a prominent freethinker and bookseller George Matsell was the organizer and first police chief of New York City. Public Safety Officers OUGHT to be among our most highly trained and respected citizens. The case is, sadly, otherwise.

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