Sir Robert Peel’s Contributions to Policing

Sir Robert Peel was a British statesman, who served twice as United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, and also as Home Secretary. In 1829, while acting as the Home Secretary of England, Sir Robert introduced the Metropolitan Police Act, which emphasized on the formation of police force to take charge of the social struggle that was resulting from swift development and industrializations in London. The efforts resulted in the creation of London Metropolitan Police, which was the first contemporary police department. This development gave Sir Robert credit where he became regarded as the founder of contemporary policing since he made a significant role in in the formation of police department and the nine principles that guided the formation of police departments globally including United States of America (Cowley, 2011). The first principle elaborated on the aspect of prevention of crimes from occurring rather than detecting it after the occurrence. And for this to be achieved, police had to work in a harmonized and consolidated structure, and be accessible to the public all the time. The use of police patrolling was encouraged to prevent criminal activities.

The second principle emphasized on the fact that the powers of the police to accomplish their roles and responsibilities in a given region are dependent on the community’s approvals of their existence, conduct their capacity to secure and uphold public respect. In order to maintain the respect of the public, the police are mandated to secure the collaboration of the members of public in voluntary reflection of the law. The other principle explains on how the level of collaboration of the public reduces with equitably the necessity of the use of physical power. The other important aspect is that police should seek and reserve favors from the public by demonstrating impartialities when providing services to the law and not by catering to the public opinions (Kirby, 2011). The other principle elaborates on the extent to which police should use physical force when securing observance of the law, which is only when the exercise of persuading, guidance and warnings has been unsatisfactory. Police are also mandated to maintain a holistic relationship with the members of the public, direct their activities strictly towards their arrangements and not assume the commands of the judiciary. The final principle explains that the test of police efficiencies is through the nonexistence of crimes and disorders in the society, and not the noticeable evidence of police act as regards to controlling crimes. Other contributions to policing by Sir Robert include the aspect of police being under government regulation, should have organizational arrangements that resemble that of the military, have their headquarters in locations easily accessible by the public and that they should receive appropriate trainings to promote efficiencies at work.

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