1920's To The 1960s

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The 1920's to the 1960's can be considered one the most important periods of time for the development of policing in the United States. This time period is referred to as The Reform Era. According to Oxford University Press' Police & Society textbook, the reform era is defined as, "A period stretching from the 1920's to the 1960's during which police derived their authority from the law and professionalism, which was critical in order to wrestle influence away from local politicians. The reform era deemphasized the provision of social services by the police in favor of crime control." The reform era is responsible for ending the long standing Political Era that began in the middle of the eighteenth century and consisted of local policing that…show more content…
The most important technologies that affected policing are still used by officers daily. The first being the two-way radio. Previous policing efforts were inefficient because officers could not be contacted on their beats. The two-way radio made it possible for officers to quickly be made aware of emergencies and be requested for their service. In addition to the two-way radio, the telephone became available for use. Citizens were then able to call their local police if they had an emergency or to report crimes. Most significant was the use of patrol cars. Patrol cars allowed officers to respond much quicker to emergencies and along with telephones, citizens could be assured of a prompt response. The modern technologies were a huge help to all citizens experiencing an emergency. Unfortunately the technologies presented a few problems that affected the community aspect of policing. The Encyclopedia's website produced an article titled Police: History, where they stated, “These new technologies also had unintended consequences on policing, the effect of which was not fully understood until much later. For example, the patrol car served to isolate patrol officers from the community. Previously, when officers patrolled on foot, they had an opportunity to engage citizens in conversations and had a familiarity with the neighborhood that was lost once officers patrolled in cars.…show more content…
In the 1960s citizens began publicly expressing their anger for public and social conditions and more notably for the treatment of minorities. The dissatisfaction in America led to several U.S. Supreme Court cases that would have a huge impact on the criminal justice system. In the previously cited article found on Encyclopedia's website, it goes on to say, "During this time, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a series of landmark cases that limited the investigative techniques used by police officers. For example, the court decided in Mapp v. Ohio (367 U.S. 643 (1961)), that evidence obtained during a search and seizure that violated citizens' Fourth Amendment rights could not be used against them in a court of law. Dubbed the exclusionary rule, Mapp guaranteed that the fruits of an unconstitutional search could not be used during prosecution. In 1966, the court ruled in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, that a suspect must be advised of his or her right against self-incrimination (protected by the Fifth Amendment) and the right to council (protected by the Sixth Amendment) before police can interrogate that suspect. Any admission of guilt obtained prior to giving the Miranda warnings cannot be used against the suspect during prosecution.” Despite many critics arguing that these decisions limited police, most studies
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