ABSTRACT
Modern policing as we know it developed in the 19th century following the establishment of the London Metropolitan Police in 1829. British Home Secretary Robert Peel sought to place police on a professional footing, with uniforms, salaries, selection criteria, a formal organization of tasks, a hierarchy of command and supervision, and detachment from politics. e “New Police” were preceded by forms of law enforcement and crime prevention that variously involved village watchmen, parish constables with customary duties, militia, and private prosecution or “thief taker” societies (Johnston, 1991). ese ad hoc forms of policing were generally ineŽective, o¬en capricious and violent, and frequently corrupt. e fact that policing duties were unpaid or poorly paid was one factor in a Œnancial trade in justice that favoured those able and willing to pay for preferential treatment (Critchley, 1967; Kappeler, Sluder, & Alpert, 1998).
