ABSTRACT
A brief narrative of the history of modern-day British policing lays a foundation for understanding the origins of contemporary community policing in the British context. As indicated in the above quoted instructions that accompanied the Metropolitan Police Act 1829, crime prevention was seemingly the emphasized focus of the British police force following its birth in 1829. Sir Robert Peel was the key architect of the “new police” that signaled modern British policing. The “new police” was first introduced in London as the Metropolitan Police and, therefore, was the pioneer of all modern police forces in England, Wales, and Scotland. Prior to the emergence of the “new police,” the “old” system of policing was marked by incompetence and, as Reiner (2000, p. 17), states, “was said to be uncertain, uncoordinated, and haphazard, relying on private and amateur effort, and prone to corruption.”
