Читать книгу Police in America - Steven G. Brandl - Страница 46

There are at least three reasons why understanding the history of the police is useful and important. First, in order to better appreciate how the police in America have changed over time, it is necessary to understand what policing looked like when it first began. Some aspects of policing have changed a lot, some have changed little. Most crucially, some of the reasons why the police are controversial today are rooted in why the police were created in the first place. Overall, knowledge of police history will assist in developing a more complete understanding of the police today.

Second, police history identifies persistent policing problems and the “solutions” that were applied to those problems but did not work. Consequently, if we are aware of these ineffective measures, we can avoid duplicating them when trying to address age-old problems today. In addition, an understanding of history can help us recognize and more fully comprehend the problems that seem immune to solution, such as police misconduct.

Finally, it is useful to study police history because it may provide insight into the future. Some people say that because history is cyclical we can actually predict the future based on knowledge of the past. Although the more specific the prediction, the more likely it is to be wrong, history can be used to identify general trends and patterns that may extend into the future. This can make it possible to predict the future based on the past.