Law Enforcement: Interdimensional Edition - Week Eight
Nick had come in nice and early and made sure that the classroom was sufficiently safe for him to be teaching there. That meant he was waiting, leaning on the desk, as the students arrived.
"Hello and welcome to this week's class. My name is Professor Chevalier. Some of you may have taken my art class last semester... or are familiar with my medical history class this semester. Today, however, I'll be covering a bit of the history around law enforcement."
He smiled cheerfully.
"Hopefully, I won't bore you too much. Now... there's plenty of ancient examples of peacekeeping to be found. Everything from the ancient Chinese prefects to the work done by slaves in ancient Greece to the considerable efforts of the Roman armies. There's also the systems used by medieval England, Spain, and Germany. But today, I'd like to focus on France, primarily, as this is where the notion of modern law enforcement was really born."
Old and French. That's Nick, for you.
"The first police force in the modern sense was created by the government of King Louis XIV in 1667 to police the city of Paris, then the largest city in Europe. Still the most beautiful, in my estimation, but that is... a little beside the point," not that he could keep himself from saying so. "This edict defined the police force as having the mission of 'ensuring the peace and quiet of the public and of private individuals, purging the city of what may cause disturbances, procuring abundance, and having each and everyone live according to their station and their duties.' Sounds like a lot, doesn't it?
"This idea could have died with the Revolution, of course, but it didn't. The idea was a good one. And as such, Napoléon I reorganized the police in Paris and other cities with more than 5,000 inhabitants as the Prefecture of Police. Now, it did take a while to spread to other countries. Eventually, though, the idea caught on. On June 30, 1800, the authorities of Glasgow, Scotland successfully petitioned the government to pass the Glasgow Police Act establishing the City of Glasgow Police. This was the first professional police service in the country and differed from previous law enforcement in that it was a preventive police force. After several hundred years of night watchmen and unpaid constables, the Metropolitan Police Act was passed to found the London Metropolitan Police on September 29, 1829.
"Now, if you're wondering about the United States and Canada," as he was sure at least some of them did, "suffice to say that while they had things, official things, in place pretty early... they certainly weren't all that effective. The US Marshal service was started in 1789, along with a number of other bodies dedicated to protecting and serving. As the country expanded, however, the outer regions were less and less policed. Now..."
He looked out to the class.
"I've got a broad range of police experience," he said carefully, "spanning... some sixty years or so, in and out of the job. I'd like to do a little discussion and then you're all welcome to ask me about some of the changes that happened over that time period."
[ocd up!]
"Hello and welcome to this week's class. My name is Professor Chevalier. Some of you may have taken my art class last semester... or are familiar with my medical history class this semester. Today, however, I'll be covering a bit of the history around law enforcement."
He smiled cheerfully.
"Hopefully, I won't bore you too much. Now... there's plenty of ancient examples of peacekeeping to be found. Everything from the ancient Chinese prefects to the work done by slaves in ancient Greece to the considerable efforts of the Roman armies. There's also the systems used by medieval England, Spain, and Germany. But today, I'd like to focus on France, primarily, as this is where the notion of modern law enforcement was really born."
Old and French. That's Nick, for you.
"The first police force in the modern sense was created by the government of King Louis XIV in 1667 to police the city of Paris, then the largest city in Europe. Still the most beautiful, in my estimation, but that is... a little beside the point," not that he could keep himself from saying so. "This edict defined the police force as having the mission of 'ensuring the peace and quiet of the public and of private individuals, purging the city of what may cause disturbances, procuring abundance, and having each and everyone live according to their station and their duties.' Sounds like a lot, doesn't it?
"This idea could have died with the Revolution, of course, but it didn't. The idea was a good one. And as such, Napoléon I reorganized the police in Paris and other cities with more than 5,000 inhabitants as the Prefecture of Police. Now, it did take a while to spread to other countries. Eventually, though, the idea caught on. On June 30, 1800, the authorities of Glasgow, Scotland successfully petitioned the government to pass the Glasgow Police Act establishing the City of Glasgow Police. This was the first professional police service in the country and differed from previous law enforcement in that it was a preventive police force. After several hundred years of night watchmen and unpaid constables, the Metropolitan Police Act was passed to found the London Metropolitan Police on September 29, 1829.
"Now, if you're wondering about the United States and Canada," as he was sure at least some of them did, "suffice to say that while they had things, official things, in place pretty early... they certainly weren't all that effective. The US Marshal service was started in 1789, along with a number of other bodies dedicated to protecting and serving. As the country expanded, however, the outer regions were less and less policed. Now..."
He looked out to the class.
"I've got a broad range of police experience," he said carefully, "spanning... some sixty years or so, in and out of the job. I'd like to do a little discussion and then you're all welcome to ask me about some of the changes that happened over that time period."
[ocd up!]