UK Policing: The Police and the Control of Urban Crime - Essay Example

It shows us that in the present time, the police can exploit technology to seize criminals (i.e. via DNA Testing, Finger-Prints, etc), unlike in the past with no use of technology. (EDWARDS 1994 131-50) Triumphs, achievements, mistakes, and failures are what make up the study of history. Studying the history of Policing can be precious in many ways because it gives an insight into why the practices were carried out in the past and why they have changed or emerged over time. To value police history is to appreciate the development of what policing is now.

vast example of policing history is protection against Indigenous cultures. Before the governing bodies were introduced after the massacre at Myall Creek, rights and social acceptance towards Aboriginal people were nonexistent but dramatically changed after the conviction of 7 men of the brutal killing of innocent Aboriginal people. The new rights have given the chance for Indigenous cultures to live as normally of life as possible and feel socially accepted thanks to changes in policing history and the way it differs from when the first fleet stepped foot on Australia's shores.

Studying the history of policing allows one to appreciate how and why the police is the way it works today. Studying the history of policing embraces the way policing fits into day's society and highlights how lucky we are in terms of police protection compared to the history of policing. I found visiting the museum gave me a clear understanding of policing history and why society is the way it works today.

 Complementing these qualitative studies of policing, are a series of more quantitative research projects which aim to establish the relative importance of specific activities that constitute routine police work in urban areas. The somewhat surprising conclusion of many early studies of this type was that, contrary to air popular image, the police appear to spend relatively little time on law enforcement and crime-related tasks. Sherman's assessment that "the vast majority of police man-hours (sic) are expended in activity having little to do with law enforcement, but much to do with social service and peacekeeping was typical of Anglo-American studies of police patrol work carried out in the early 1970s.

Indeed, Punch's study of policing in inner-city Amsterdam went as far as describing the police as a 'secret social service'. More recent research, however, has questioned this conclusion on both theoretical and empirical grounds. (BENNETT 2001 1-14)