Policing Before and After the Police: The Historical Antecedents of Contemporary Crime Control

• NCJ Number: 213008
• Journal: British Journal of Criminology Volume: 46 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2006 Pages: 78-96
• Author(s): Lucia Zedner
• Date Published: January 2006
• Length: 19 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This paper explores the possibility that current developments in policing are linked with an earlier era before state-supported policing, when public safety was based in individual responsibility, communal self-help, and private protective mechanisms.

Abstract

The author critically assesses the claims that we are entering a new era in policing by comparing current developments with 18th-century public-safety practices prior to state-supported policing. This comparison intends to distinguish what is new in policing and what is not. Generalized insecurity and mounting demands for protection are common features of both periods. The trend toward community policing in the modern era reflects patterns of enlisting individuals and community organizations in voluntary activities of self-protection. This parallels similar patterns in public-safety activities in the 18th century, before state-supported policing. The modern era of policing also uses private security companies in policing neighborhoods, businesses, and commercial areas. This was also a practice in the 18th century. What distinguishes these two historic periods is the dramatic expansion in the number of people employed in the private security industry, which has accompanied increasingly globalized social and economic relations. Another distinction of public safety in the modern era is the growth of security technologies that encompass locks, access control, alarm systems, closed-circuit television, and other high-tech surveillance equipment. The proliferation of surveillance technologies raises new considerations of the impact on civil liberties and crime displacement. Although the state can no longer claim a monopoly over policing, it must retain responsibility for protecting the public interest in policing measures and the maintenance of civil rights in the context of security measures being used. 84 references