|
|
Law Observance and Enforcement to study the criminal justice system. This set the stage for a new era of policing (Roberg et al., 2005). While few, if any, initiatives in training occurred at the beginning of this era, by the end, an increasing amount of attention was directed to its significance as a result of the public's growing contempt of political corruption and social disorder. For example, in 1877 the Cincinnati (Ohio) Police Department, and later in 1903 the Cleveland Police Department, established a training program for police recruits where, on a weekly basis, “captains in each of the thirteen precincts conducted classes that covered state law, city ordinances, and departmental regulations” (Brand & Peak, 1995, pp. 45–58). It was not until 1907, however, that August Vollmer2, marshal of the City of Berkeley, California, set forth “the idea for the first formal police academy.” He was “convinced that the principle problem of all police departments was inefficiency,” which he contended was directly related to inexcusable ignorance and lack of training (Brand & Peak, p. 46). Resolving to address these deficiencies, in 1908 he developed a police school “which covered a wide variety of subjects such as police methods and procedures, fingerprinting, first aid, criminal law, anthropometry, photography, public health and sanitation” (Douthit, 1983, p. 102, cited in Brand & Peak). Following Vollmer's lead, in 1909 the New York City Police Department established its first police academy, which “provided recruits with training in firearms, departmental rules and regulations, police procedures, and criminal law” (Gammage, 1963, p. 102, cited in Brand & Peak).
America's Reform Era of Policing (1930–1970)
Given the overreaching influence and control that politicians exercised over police during the political era, there was a grassroots movement for change and reform by citizens and government alike. Society's demand for reforms, including reform of the police, gave rise to renewed calls for law and order and reflected a need for professionalizing the police in the fight against crime (Brandl & Barlow, 2004). Champion and Hooper (2003), addressing the transition of policing from the political era into the reform era, suggested that two major factors led to the