Introduction
The British police force has a long history, a history that is marked by many milestones that make it distinct from other institutions in society. However, the British police force as is known to many today can trace its roots back to the year 1829. This is the year that the metropolitan police act was passed in the British legislature, creating the structure of the policy that has been maintained, albeit with several changes along the way, in contemporary society.
The industrial revolution was the main impetus that led to the creation of the current police structure. This is given the fact that industrialization and the accompanying urbanization led to rising in crime such as theft, alcoholism and others. The act of people living together in the urban areas led to the emergence of collective action and responsibility, and people felt that they were responsible for their own security. This is what led to the emergence of institutions such as the police that were supposed to maintain law and order in society. The 1829 metropolitan police act championed by Robert Peeler was passed against the backdrop of rising levels of crime in London, and it was aimed at cutting back on this trend (Bloy 2002). This led to the development of an organized policing system and the recruitment of full-time police officers that came to be referred to as “bobbies” or “peelers”, nicknames drawn from the legislator credited with the establishment of the force.
According to Peeler, one way that the efficiency of the police in society could be gauged is by looking at the crime statistics in the community. This is given that the major mandate of the police was to fight this crime. This structure of the police system and the gauging of the efficiency of the force were borrowed by other countries in the world, including the United States of America.
Given the fact that the police force as known today can be traced back to the year 1829, a question emerges on whether Britain had any form of policing prior to this. Did policing exist before the passage of this bill, or was it an entirely new creation of the bill? This question has led to a controversy, with emerging schools of thought divided among those who are of the view that there was policing before 1829 while the other holds the opposite view that there was no policing.
This paper is going to look at this argument. The author is going to critically analyze the state of maintenance of law and order in Britain pre-1829 and assess whether there was any form of policing in that society by then. If there was police at that time, the author is going to analyze the structure of the same and how it compares with the policing that was established by the 1829 act.
Policing in Britain Pre-1829
Before looking at the question of whether or not policing did exist in this country, it is important to try and come up with a definition of the term policy and policing in society. With this definition, it will be possible to compare the structure that was used for the maintenance of law and order in pre-1829 Britain with the definition of policing and see whether the structure was that of policing or not.
Bloy (2002) conceptualizes the police as that arm of the government that is charged with the maintenance of law and order in society. The department is made up of individuals and other resources that have been specifically structured to detect crime maintain order and enforce the law as stipulated in the legal structure of the country.
The word “policing” is derived from the term “police”, and it means the actual regulation and control in the community to ensure that the law and order are maintained. It involves patrolling the streets, arresting suspected criminals, and aligning them in court among other activities (Patterson 2011).
According to Emsley (2009), the chief role of the policing agent is to prevent the commission of a crime. The other peripheral yet important role of this arm of the government is to detect offenders in society and punish them if they are proved to have committed a crime. With this is in mind, it is now possible to analyze the status of the policing structure, if it was there, in pre-1829 Britain.
Was there Policing in Britain Pre-1829?
Given the definition of police and policing provided above, it can be argued that there was policing in Britain pre-1829. The policing might have been different from the one that exists in contemporary society in terms of the structure and organization of the department, but it did exist all the same. The rest of the paper will be dedicated to supporting this argument.
Policing Before 1829 in Britain: The Case of London
The importance of maintenance of law and order is paramount in any society. This is given the fact that society cannot function effectively if there is no order. The lack of conflict resolution mechanisms will make society grind to a halt. It is as a result of this that it becomes important for society to act collectively and formulate laws and regulations that are meant to control the conduct of the members of the society (McLaughlin 2006).
This being the case, and having defined policing as such, it is hard to imagine that British society was without a police structure before 1829. The society was organized and signs of civilization were evident, for example, due to industrialization. There was a need for a structure to maintain law and order in such a society, and the police is such a structure that did exist in this country.
According to Wright (2002), it is erroneous to assume that there existed a vacuum in this society before 1829 when the Metropolitan Police Act was passed. Before this time, law enforcement was delegated by the members of the society to constables and watchmen that worked on a volunteer basis (Patterson 2011). There was also the existence of an armed force, a force that was charged with the responsibility of maintaining public order in case of a serious public disorder (Patterson 2011).
This form of organization is not unlike that which existed after 1829. There were constables and other officers that were empowered by the Metropolitan Police Act to maintain law and order in society. Against this background, it can then be argued that policing did in fact exist in Britain pre-1829.
But those opposed to this argument might support their positions by stating that the so-called constables were not full-time officers and they were working on a voluntary basis. This might be the case, but it is important to note that policing is not defined by the kind of remuneration that the officers receive; rather, it is defined by the role that they play in society.
It is also a fact beyond doubt that the law enforcement agents in pre-1829 Britain were largely unorganized. This is especially so considering the fact that they lacked the capacity to investigate crime in an organized manner (Briggs 2008). They were not as organized as contemporary police departments that have arms specifically charged with the responsibility of investigating crime. This is for example latter day Scotland Yard and the MI5, arms that are charged with the collection of information and other intelligence that is used in crime investigation.
Another argument that is used by those opposing the fact that police did exist in pre-1829 Britain is that the police of those days reacted only after a crime has been committed (Wakefield 2003). This point is related to the one above, given that crime investigation is one major form of police reaction to a crime that has not yet been committed. As such, they argue, there might have been the existence of a semblance of a police force in this society, but there was no policing. This argument rightly and justifiably points out the fact that the presence of a police force does not necessarily mean the presence of policing in society.
As much as this might be the case, these opponents forget that policing does not solely involve a criminal investigation. It is a broad field involving the coordination of various activities such as the apprehension and punishment of offenders. As such, the failure of the police to play a role that is conventionally expected of them does not negate the fact that they are not policing society. Doing so amounts to ignoring the other roles that are played by the police. In view of this, it is not farfetched to argue that pre-1829 Britain had to police.
Policing Before 1829 in Britain: A Case Study of the Bow Street Runners
The argument that policing did exist before 1829 in Britain is supported by the presence of organized groups that played the role of maintaining law and order in society. One such group was the Bow Street Runners.
McLaughlin (2006) is of the view that this was one of the earliest organized police forces in Britain and in the rest of the developed world. It was formed in the year 1753 by Fielding Henry, a novelist who was appointed by Her Majesty’s government to serve as a magistrate (McLaughlin 2006). Initially, the force was made up of eight constables who were paid by the magistrate’s court. These constables were however different from post-1829 constables given the fact that, though they were salaried-albeit a meager pay- they were not full-time police officers. Some were even involved in other business activities, and they carried out their constabulary duties on a part-time basis.
Another thing that makes this ancient police force perfect evidence in support of policing in this society is the fact that they were involved in crime investigation. Briggs (2008) is of the view that the force was a depiction of a formalized and regularised policing method that was already in existence in society. This means that the Bow Runners were not a mere police force; rather, they were an embodiment of the policing methods and techniques that were already in practice in society.
The contemporary police force is composed of officers that are centrally organized and who draw their salary from the central government (Emsley 2009). If the existence of such a police force points to an existence of policing in society, then it is in order to argue that pre-1829 Britain had its own system of policing. This is given that an analysis of Bow Street Runners, a representation of pre-1829 British force, points out that a formalized structure was in place.
The members of the force were formally attached to the Bow Street magistrate’s office, the office that was occupied by Fielding by then (Briggs 2008). They received their salaries from the same office, and the office in turn received these monies from the central government.
However, there are marked differences between post-1829 police constables and the constables that were in Fielding’s stable. One of them is the fact that, unlike later day’s police officers, the eight constables in the office of the magistrate did not carry out police patrols in the community (Emsley 2009). The constables solely apprehended offenders and served them writs under the directions of the magistrate’s office (Bloy 2002). As such, their role as maintainers of law and order in society was not felt by the citizenry. In fact, just like other police officers in pre-1829 Britain, the Bow Street Runners only acted after a crime has been committed and brought to the attention of the magistrate’s office. The fact that they were also attached to the magistrate’s office also shows how rudimentary the organization of the police force was. It is argued that the citizenry is the first client when it comes to policing. When this is used as criteria to determine police or lack of it thereof in pre-1829 Britain, it may appear that there was no policing. The Bow Street Runners acted as emissaries of the courts, rather than emissaries of the citizen. Their lack of autonomy from the courts further blurs their ostensible policing role.
However, the counter-arguments above do not negate the fact that the Bow Street Runners, before their disbandment in 1839, did represent policing in pre-1829 Britain. They served the citizens in their own ways, and they similarly maintained law and order in their own special way. The apprehension of criminals may have acted as deterrence against crime in the future, and they served the citizens by arresting those who violated their rights.
Policing Before 1829 in Britain: A Case Study of the “Thief-Taker”
The existence of thief-takers in pre-1829 Britain is a further indicator of the fact that police did in face exist in this society. The thief-taker was an individual who played a role similar to that of a private detective in today’s society.
A thief-taker was hired by a victim of a theft crime and was instructed to catch the thief and return the stolen goods to the victim (Patterson 2011). They were paid for their services by those who had hired them, who were in most cases the victims of the crime committed.
The thief-taker exemplified the maintenance of law and order in society by helping to bring to book offenders. One of the major tenets of policing in any society is the meting out of justice to those who have broken the law, and the thief-taker embodied policing in pre-1829 British society given that they played this role perfectly.
However, there are those who will argue that the presence of the thief-taker cannot be taken as proof of the existence of policing in this society. Unlike post-1829 policing which served the whole community, thief-takers were private instruments. They did not draw their salary from the central government, and they were not indebted in any way to the community. Their loyalty lay with their employer, and they thus did not provide policing to the community. But this argument can be refuted by recognizing that, as earlier indicated, the thief-taker helped bring thieves before the courts. As such, they maintained law and order by deterring crime.
Conclusion
This paper proved beyond reasonable doubt that policing did exist in pre-1829 Britain. However, the paper also notes that there are marked differences between post-1829 policing and that of pre-1829 in Britain. These differences largely have to do with the organizational structure and organizational complexity between the two policing systems. The paper used two case studies to prove the existence of policing during this period. Maintenance of law and order in society was necessary especially given the industrialization and globalization that were taking place.
References
Bloy, M 2002. The Metropolitan Police: The Maintenance of Law and Order before 1829. Web.
Briggs, S 2008. The History of British Policing. London: London University Press.
Emsley, C 2009. The Great British Bobby: A History of British Policing from 1829 to the Present. London: Quercus Publishing Plc.
McLaughlin, E 2006. The New Policing. London: Sage
Patterson, J 2011. Sir Robert Peel’s Innovation. Web.
Wakefield, 2003. Selling Security. London: Willan.
Wright, 2002. Policing: An Introduction to Concepts and Practice. London: Willan.