In New York — known in the early colonial period as New Amsterdam because of the large constituency of Dutch settlers — the burgher guard was formed to protect the settlement in 1643. Ten years later, the burgher guard changed to the rattle watch, a group of volunteers who carried loud rattles to summon assistance.

England took over New Amsterdam in 1664, and renamed it New York. It would be near the turn of the century before the rattle watch was replaced by a uniformed police force.

Boston established its first night watch program in 1635 (some date it as early as 1631), and it consisted of six watchmen, one constable and hundreds of volunteers. Their primary duty was to keep watch on the town from “sundown to sunup,” which included ringing a bell if any fires were discovered. By 1735, the Boston night watchmen were required to call out the time of the day and give a brief description of weather conditions.

These colonial law enforcers served part-time and usually without any financial compensation. It would not be until the early 18th century that full-time, paid law enforcement officers would be appointed by Boston officials. Philadelphia would also establish its own police force at about the same time.

The colonial watchman system of policing has been characterized as being on the basis of hue and cry, which some believe made for relatively impotent law enforcement. It was not unusual that petty criminals were sentenced to serve as night watchmen in lieu of a fine or other punishment. In some areas, citizens were required to have a turn at being a watchman. This duty was loathed by more than a few. It was common for the obliged to look for ways of getting out their required duty. Many people, especially those with some financial means, hired others in their stead. Some of the hired watchmen were vagrants and ne’er-do-wells, making corruption a real but unfortunate part of
the system.

Watchmen were often viewed as dimwits and dullards, as the corruption of the system by using undesirables would tend to do to a particular occupation. In some areas, they were given the derogatory nickname “leatherheads.”

England’s crucial contribution to modern policing

In 1748, Henry Fielding, a novelist and attorney, was appointed as chief magistrate of Bow Street in London. Fielding saw a need for law and order in this city that had no professional and official law enforcement. Eventually, he helped in the creation of the Bow Street Runners. Viewed today as the first detective force, the Bow Street Runners investigated crimes using a somewhat more scientific method than their predecessors. They would be the first law enforcement unit to utilize forensics, though in its unpolished and intrepid infancy, and handed out newsletters with information about crimes and suspects in hopes of garnering public assistance in capturing lawbreakers. The Bow Street Runners would be expanded in the future to include armed foot and
horse patrols.

In 1829, Sir Robert Peel, considered the father of modern policing, proposed a modified return to law and order responsibilities being placed on individual communities. Peel initiated nine policing principles that culminated in the establishment of the Metropolitan Police of London. Many of Peel’s principles are the basis for modern police procedure; for instance, hiring police officers on a probationary basis and securing and training “proper” persons. Training had almost always been administered only to military personnel, not civilian law enforcement. The first London police were headquartered in a building that had formerly housed Scottish nobility; thus, the term Scotland Yard has been used as another name for the Metropolitan Police of London. The officers under Peel were originally nicknamed “peelers” but would more famously be known as “bobbies.” They were issued uniforms for easy identification by each other and citizens in need of assistance. The first London police uniform consisted of a top hat, three-quarter-length blue tailcoat and white trousers. They were armed only with a truncheon.

One of Peel’s most famous statements is that “the police are the public and the public are the police,” which remains as the basic credo and foundation of all community-based policing programs today. Professionalism and community-oriented police functions were a large part of Peel’s plan for enforcing the law. While police agencies throughout the world have deviated from professional law enforcement practices from time to time since Peel’s era, Scotland Yard still stands as one of the most revered police departments in the world.

Establishment of professional law enforcement in the U.S.

New York City established a paid day watch force consisting of 16 officers in 1844. These day watchmen were a distinct and separate unit from the night watchmen. Much friction between the two forces created a unique problem for the city’s legislators. There was a movement among city leaders to consider patterning their police department on the London model. Trying to garner a better understanding of how to organize and operate an efficient law enforcement agency, New York City legislators made a trek to England to study the British counterpart up close and personally. Duly impressed with what they had seen, the city leaders returned to New York and began making changes that would create the early version of the New York City Police Department we know today. Not long afterward, other American cities acted similarly, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and San Francisco.

It would be another 12 years before the NYPD adopted a full uniform. The Detroit Police Department established the first detective unit in the United States in 1866.

As an interesting side note, police officers in New York City had a variety of duties that seem to have nothing to do with enforcing the law. Some of those responsibilities included licensing steam boilers, cleaning streets and inspecting tenement housing.

Though American cities sought to make their own respective departments clones of Scotland Yard, two major differences were that police in the U.S. were armed with firearms and they were not centralized (under the control of the federal government). In Part 3, we’ll examine the modernization of law enforcement.