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Urbanization of Policing
The start of what the modern day police forces are in America. Began simply as Night watches and day patrols before continuing to grow. -
Politics in the 19th century
Dictatorships and Monarchies were the most common forms of political leadership amongst European countries. USA followed a democracy ideology rather than giving the power solely to one individual. -
Prohibition
The temperance movement began years before, beginning the movement to make alcohol illegal. After years of bootlegging and illegal production of alcohol, prohibition began completely cracking down on alcohol. Considering this an organized crime led to many imprisonments as well. -
War
From the very end if 1939 up until 1945 the United States were involved within WW2. The country was in a spree of panic, especially after the Pearl Harbor attack. -
Fear of Communism
After the war, there was a wave of fear that America was goin to revert into communism. Senator McCarthy had claimed there were individuals who were part of the communist part in the states, founding the idea of Mccarthyism and attempting himself to keep communism away in the states. -
Turbulence in the 1960s
The country was flooded with anti war protesters, the Vietnam war was fully active and on top of all of that there was four major political assassinations in America throughout the 1960s including MLK and the Kennedy assassination -
The crime wave of the 1970s
Throughout this time the country was in a crime epidemic. Homicides had nearly doubles and violent crime rates had nearly tripled. As a country we had to begin overcrowding prisons with criminals and expand our systems with more prisons and more officers of the law. -
The 80s until 9/11
Known as the community era, after the crime increase throughout the 70s the majority opinion was, catching criminals can be a group effort. Law enforcement started working closer to communities to overtime solve overlooked issues. -
Post 9/11
After 9/11 America overall became a more secure country on all fronts. We locked down borders and police forces worked closely with homeland security to ensure the safety of the American citizens by integrating police agencies and requiring easy lines of communication in case of emergency. -
Current Policing or Media Policing
Current day police work is very difficult for your average officer. Individuals constantly like to argue the law in their own opinions, and even recording officers. This forces these men and women to have to present themselves now in a less serious manner, to have fewer poor interactions. Also public opinion in the last few years of police have been awful due to specific incidents, never putting the good work they do in the spotlight.