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Police History
April 1635
The City of Boston establishes the first system of law enforcement in the 13 colonies. Called the "night watch," officers served part-time, without pay. -
Police History
1712
The City of Boston hires the first full-time, paid law enforcement officers in the 13 colonies. September 24, 1789
The United States Congress creates the first Federal law enforcement officer, the United States Marshal. Thirteen U.S. Marshals were appointed by President George Washington. October 22, 1791
Sheriff Cornelius Hogeboom of Hudson, New York, was shot as he attempted to serve a writ of ejectment becoming the first known law enforcement officer to be killed in the line of duty. -
Political Era
The political era when policing first began was about authorization which was political, The function was for crime control and for social services. The organizational design was also decentralized and geographical. -
Police History
April 14, 1865
On the day he was shot by the assassin John Wilkes Booth, President Abraham Lincoln approves the formation of what is now the United States Secret Service. -
Police History
April 12, 1870
Jacksonville, Florida, Officer William Johnson becomes the first African American police officer to be killed in the line of duty. -
Police History
1902
Fingerprinting is first used in the United States by law enforcement. -
Police History
The Berkeley (CA) Police Department becomes the country's first agency to have all patrol officers using automobiles. -
Reform Era
Control over police by local politicians, conflict between urban reformers and local ward leaders over the enforcement of laws regulating the morality of urban migrants, and abuses (corruption, for example) that resulted from the intimacy between police and political leaders and citizens produced a continuous struggle for control over police during the late 19th and early 20th centuries (ncjrs) -
Community Policing Era
Police began to score victories which
they barely noticed. Foot patrol remained popular, and in
many cities citizen and political demands for it intensified.
In New Jersey, the state funded the Safe and Clean Neighborhoods
Program, which funded foot patrol in cities, often
over the opposition of local chiefs of police(ncjrs). -
Police History
1974
Police start wearing soft body armor to protect themselves against handgun assaults. -
Police History
2002
The Department of Homeland Security is formed to lead the unified national effort to secure America.
