Eras in Policing
by Marilyn Beach
IPA and the Citizen's Crime Commission sponsored a commemorative event, "American Policing since Bruce Smith." Tom Reppetto, President of the Citizens Crime Commission, delivered a lecture on the contributions of Bruce Smith and developments in policing since Mr. Smith's era. Bruce Smith, former IPA Director and staff member at IPA for over thirty years, was the leading national expert on policing from the 1930s to the 1950s.
To an audience of police cadets, criminal justice students, citizens, foreign dignitaries, and others interested in police work, Reppetto examined the historical context in which Smith gained his experience. During the first half of this century, cities and rural areas were often at odds with one another. Rural dominated legislatures passed laws forbidding or severely regulating drinking, gambling, and other "sins." The states asked the police to enforce these laws, while local political machines cajoled the police to overlook violations. According to Smith, the most troubling aspects of the criminal justice system included payoffs, appointment or promotion that was dependent on political sponsorship, the rough nature of the police force, and a generally inefficient police staff. Smith's career was dedicated to solving these problems, and his services were commissioned in cities all over the U.S. and abroad.
Reppetto reported that, since Bruce Smith's death in 1955, both the nature of American cities and the nature of police work have changed. Crime and disorder have caused a decline in American cities, an event intricately linked to the reduction in the number of neighborhood beat cops. In the first half of this century, neighborhoods were patrolled by beat cops who were often drawn from the largely immigrant communities that they patrolled. "Beat cops were at the center of a network of social controls such as family, church, neighborhood associations, etc. In slum areas, police officers were...the embodiment of civil government."
The social control system of neighborhood beat cops was replaced by radio patrol cars, believed to be more efficient. Reppetto commented that this change had the effect of "replacing a cop everyone knew with anonymous strangers who answered 911 calls, applied a band-aid, and moved on." Reppetto connected the end of the beat police era to the flight of the middle class from the inner cities. "If American cities had maintained a type of community beat policing, the middle class might have continued to live within the city, and many others in poor, but stable, areas would have found their way out of poverty in the same fashion that previous generations did."
Reppetto argued that the decline of American cities since the 1950s has shaped the nation's politics, indeed the culture, more than any other event, including the Cold War. The 1960s were an era of despair in American police work, as widespread rioting and corruption were commonplace. Reppetto cited the riots in Los Angeles in 1965 as one of the worst examples of how the new police system failed American communities. Police leaders in the 1970s and 80s made valiant attempts to respond to this crisis, including the creation of academic centers charged with designing better systems. Many problems in police work, however, continue to exist today.
Reppetto ended his remarks by emphasizing the importance of a return to community beat policing. He cautioned, however, that as Bruce Smith advocated, beat policing must be strengthened with the professional values of merit, efficiency and integrity.
From IPA Report, Fall 1995.
Marilyn Beach is a member of the IPA Senior Staff.