Police in the Political Era

During the political era of 1830 to 1900 any male could become a police officer and many wanted the job as it paid more than most blue collar jobs. No formal education was needed, nor did it matter if the applicant had a criminal record. Instead, candidates were hired based on their political connections. Oftentimes, police officers were fired after an election and with such a high turnover rate, there was no possibility that police officers could know the neighborhoods they patrolled. Many police did not do their jobs as there was no way for sergeants to keep adequate supervision over them. They spent their time in bars drinking and were often violent using physical force. Not to mention that many police officers discriminated against certain races. There was a great deal of corruption involving police, as they took bribes to ignore laws. Basically, most police officers were only involved in police work because of the high pay and the lack of actual work. All of these reasons gave the public grounds for the distrust of the police.

In the professional era of 1900 to 1960 American policing changed dramatically as it became a profession. Politics were eliminated from policing, personnel standards were raised, and modern management was introduced. The police became more reliable and few police officers joined because of the high pay. The helped eradicate a lot of corruption and put better officers out on the street. However, other problems emerged. After World War I, conflict between African Americans and the police became a constant struggle. Riots broke out and African Americans were openly discriminated upon. Few black officers were hired and those who were hired often only patrolled black communities. Sometimes African Americans were even discriminated by black officers. This gave many people reason to mistrust the police as they were very biased and discriminatory toward certain people.