Essay on “Rise of Police Force in England” Complete Essay, Paragraph, Speech 550 Words for Class 9, 10, 12 and Graduation Students.

Rise of Police Force in England

More than a century ago, some countries had no police force. Local leaders devised their own methods of ensuring that their orders were carried out and fulfilled. The offender was not given a second chance to repeat his mistake for he was either killed or hunted out of the district. In England, the modern police force grew largely from an unofficial body gathered together by a London magistrate. He found that it was practically impossible to apprehend any of the criminals in his area unless he deployed some men secretly to detect and hunt the culprits. These unofficial constables had to patrol one large district. They looked upon their position largely as an honorary one and had very little power. Worse still they were sometimes corrupt men themselves for they would conveniently look the other way round in times of trouble, like theft, hooliganism, and vandalism. Magistrate fielding enrolled a few men whom he could explicitly trust and employed them to catch the thieves and other undesirable persons. The majority of the people resented what they thought was a threat to their liberties, intrusion on their privacies, and above all spying on them. They maintained that they should have every right to drink themselves to death with any form of alcohol, as so many of them did. They thought too that they should be allowed to quarrel, to fight, and even kill amongst themselves. The situation was made worse by the fact that the penalties for offenses were very heavy in those days and man could be hanged for the theft of some unimportant thing. Arrest by the magistrate’s men could bring disastrous results. Contrary to the general feeling, the authorities gradually admitted that these early policemen were vitally necessary, after much discussion, argument, and persuasion, the government secretly agreed to reimburse the magistrate for the men he employed. This step was not made public lest it should be thought that the government was planting spies amidst its people. Eventually, the public came to look upon the police with a more friendly spirit as the benefits became more noticeable. At long last, men and women could walk along the streets by day and even by night without fear of robbery and other acts of violence. Hitherto, the people were free to do practically anything-good or bad, irrespective of the possible consequences, as the police force built up. The people gave up their freedom to commit evil deeds so that they might have greater freedom to do good so as to enable one and all to enjoy life peacefully and harmoniously.

Conclusion

A century ago there was no police force in England. Leaders devised their own methods to curb crime. Culprits were either killed or exiled. Trustworthy men employed by a magistrate were fielded to keep vigilance on culprits. These men would patrol and nab undesirable men. People saw these constables as impinging on their rights and liberties. However, the authorities upheld the practice recognizing that constables were crucial for peace. Gradually when the law and order bettered and people led safer lives, they became friendly to the police.