Professional Policing.

Policing in America has its roots in European methods. You can see it in four concepts that came across the Atlantic: the county, the sheriff, the common law, and the foot patrol methods of the English “bobby.”

The northeastern states generally used the “watch and ward” system. The watch was the nighttime police and the ward was the daytime police. As American policing developed in New York, Boston and Philadelphia, the entire system of criminal justice began to experience corruption.

1900 through the 1940s. The automobile gave a faster response to calls, and radio let calls be dispatched to officers in the field. Many officers were moved from walking beats to radio cars. Performance rose because response was rapid, but actual communication with citizens fell. Before that shift, beat officers were known by the people in their areas. That bond made the officer feel ownership of the beat and gave the community a personal relationship with its officer. This was also the “reform” era. August Vollmer worked to bring professionalism to the police, and the present federal law enforcement system emerged with J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. In 1931 the Wickersham Commission (the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement) reported that the greatest promise for the future of policing was the college or university.

1950 through the 1970s. Computers and communications became commonplace, and the fast-paced service style moved officers further from constant citizen contact. The professional police model developed, with emphasis on accountability and higher standards. Response time, crime statistics and citizen complaints became the common measures of performance. The Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) funded projects to speed up the criminal justice process. Specialized units took most follow-up work away from patrol officers. Patrol became incident driven, officers often became little more than report takers, and the police became controlled by the radio.

Education was a running theme of that era. In 1967 the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice said police personnel should have two or four years of college, with baccalaureate degrees as the ultimate aim. In 1973 the National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals (NAC) reported that requirements were still low. It set a schedule: one year of college immediately, two years by 1975, three years by 1978, and a baccalaureate degree by 1982. A 1986 study of 289 responding agencies found that 84.8% required a high school diploma or G.E.D., 0.9% had no minimum, and only 0.6% required a four-year degree.

1980 through the present. Technology keeps improving, and interest in evaluation research and in other styles of service has grown. Community policing and problem-oriented policing opened new potential for agencies. The outline notes the irony: professionalizing the police has very often led back to walking beats and citizen interaction.

During Texas’ 100 years as a province of Mexico, policing was handled by the Spanish military. That ended when Texas became a free and independent republic after the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836.

Stephen F. Austin employed a militia group to protect the settlers from Indian and bandit raids. That group later became known as the Texas Rangers. The watch and ward system never evolved in Texas because of the large territory and the absence of large cities.

County law enforcement in Texas is elected, and it is written into the Texas Constitution. Article 5, Section 18 provides for one constable elected in each precinct. Article 5, Section 23 provides for a sheriff elected by the voters of each county. Both hold office for four years.

Municipal police come from the Local Government Code. The governing body of a Type A general-law municipality may establish and regulate a police force, and its officers have the powers, rights, duties and jurisdiction given to a peace officer by the Code of Criminal Procedure. A Type C general-law municipality may appoint the officers it considers necessary and define their duties. A home-rule municipality may provide for a police department.