How we define the role of police is much more than an interesting problem in government. Rather, it is a direct reflection of society's heart. Using primary source documents to trace the evolution of the role of police in American society from colonial times to the present gives us firsthand accounts of watchmen and constables, rangers and marshals, Pinkertons and G-men, as well as the officers, deputies, troopers, and patrolmen who handle contemporary police problems in the United States. But it also chronicles the attempts of political leaders, reformers, scholars, and police executives to deal with a range of social problems such as immigration, population growth, urbanization, racism, poverty, gender bias, and technological change as well as crime.
Policing addresses one of the most fundamental problems of social living how to deal with those who violate group customs, norms, rules, and laws that enable cooperation. Cooperating together in large groups enables us to take advantage of one another's strengths and to compensate for individual weaknesses. The resulting sum can be much greater than the parts and, all else being equal, the large the social group, the larger the potential benefit. But social living also provides opportunities for people to cheat. Instead of cooperating to produce a shared benefit, people can use force, fraud, or stealth to obtain valued resources. Once again, generally speaking, the larger the social group, the greater the opportunities for cheating. Cheaters weaken the cooperative bonds that enable productive social living and, like parasites in an animal, too many cheaters can kill or cripple a society. (Chris Cunneen, 2001)
To the extent that a society values individual liberty, formal social control is limited to behaviors that tangibly threaten productive social living all productive societies must control interpersonal violence and protect property rights. But societies vary a great.......
