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politics, corruption, urbanization, industrialization, migration of people, and exponential growth in the public and private sectors. Addressing the influence of politics, Robert, Novak, and Cordner (2005) explained that “several trends converged in the mid-1800s that resulted in the creation of political machines that controlled cities, including the police department” (p. 46). These trends included pressure on politicians by the upper and middle classes for municipal services and protection of their status quo; an influx of immigrants, who politicians lured and exploited with promises of employment in exchange for support; and political appointments to the police department so as to ensure control in the community. The influence of politics was so overt during this period that it influenced not only police arrests and services but also “who was employed, who was promoted, who was the chief of police, and who was appointed to the police commission”; in effect, the police department was run “in a manner approved by elected officials” (Miller & Hess, 2005, p. 10).
This political culture, while individually unique from city to city, nevertheless transcended urban boundaries and influenced policing practices throughout the rest of the country (Champion & Hooper, 2003). By the end of the century, as cities began to grow larger and become more difficult to manage, the politically corrupt police departments came under increasing criticism. Indeed, the ill effects of the Civil War, World War I (1914–1918), the Roaring Twenties, prohibition of alcohol (1920–1933), labor strikes, and the crash of the stock market leading to the Great Depression (1929) all took their toll. The public's growing contempt for political corruption and other social ills such as “an increase in crime, population congestion, inadequate housing, health problems, [and] waste disposal” all gave rise to calls for reform (Champion & Hooper, p. 85). The reformers, or progressives, as they came to be known, “were made up of religious leaders and civic-minded upper and middle-class business and professional people [who] argued that government should be managed efficiently, public officials should be honest, and there should be one standard of conduct for everyone” (Roberg, Crank, & Kuykendall, 2000, p. 45). Finally, in 1929 President Hoover, as part of his initiative to reform government, appointed the National Commission on