The Early Presence of Law and Order

Racine Police in 1880

Although many people may think that Law and Order has been around since early civilizations, the police style that we know and see today in our societies did not become present until the rise of the Industrial Age. Before the Industrial Age the main use of the police was to maintain control over runaway slaves. With slavery abolished, policemen needed to find new identity to remain a factor in the community. As the sudden advancement of technology brought many benefits to the United States,  it could also become a danger. Misuse and a lack of attention could cause the new innovations of the world to cause major chaos among the society.  Just like the world around out the Police was in desperate need for changes and new leaders to help revamp the protectors of the people.


With the new developments in the field of technology work in the Industrial Age became more sedentary. Many workers were let of at 5, giving the citizens and early escape from the jail of a work day. This allowed more people to go home and enjoy leisure time. My father has always told me the more time I have on my hands, the more trouble I can get myself into. This was the case in this time of advancement and prosperity. Public disorder, drunkenness, and prostitution became popular offenses in this time period. The average number of arrests because of these offenses per officer was around 30 a year. Without the hard days of labor constantly shoved in the faces of the American citizens there was not much to do. Therefore mischief was a popular activity at the time.

A scene of Bootlegging. A common crime in the Industrial Age.

With the popularity of alcohol and a rise in wealth and free time, many saw the opportunity to abuse the system. Bootlegging became the center spotlight of crime and was taken up by many of the mobsters. As many mobsters tried to control the entire gambling. As the mobsters began to overwhelm the crime in cities, the police had to come up with a strategy to counter the acts that were beginning to corrupt this prosperous period of time. Special squads were created to focus on fighting these specific crimes. They were called vice squads(Policing in America). The were a specialized squad and helped take down the mobsters, like Al Capone. These squads were eventually aided by the ban of all alcohol in 1920.
distribution of alcohol in a city, it led to many other doors such as narcotics, prostitution, and

A replica of what a 1919 police car looked like.

August Vollmer

With almost any topic you can think of, there is always one person whose contributions can be noted as the most influential. For police innovation August Vollmer, the Chief of Police from Berkley California, was the guy. He renovated almost all aspects of police work, and made Law and Order as efficient as the machines which were being created at the time. With the rise in automobiles there was a need for a traffic system to help keep roads and drivers safe and functioning, and to help enforce drivers from abusing their vehicles. In 1915 police began to use motorcycles to help chase down speeders. He created the first system of traffic systems, and helped utilize them in the community(Policing in America). He also was the first equip piece vehicles with radios, which helped patrol cars and cycles to be more efficient with their duties. He worked in one of the first crime labs, and was president of the Association of Police Chiefs. This was soon to be called the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1908, to help fight against drug, sex, and alcohol trafficking. His contributions to police work were more than helpful to the progression of police work.

As the technology in the industrial age progres
sed, the use of machines not only helped the major tycoons, but also the police. Henry Faulds created the method of fingerprinting, which still to this day is a weapon of law and order(Policing in America). This machine allowed the policemen to now investigate crime scenes, and still have a chance of catching the criminal. Before this the only possible way for an arrest to be mad and justice to be served was if there was a witness present.

Secret Service in 1905

In the time period of 1880-1920 many specialized groups of men were created to protect the government, and the people off the US. The Secret Service was founded to help protect the government against counterfeit and fraud. In 1902 they were reassigned to serve and protect the president(Policing in America). A special group of policemen were chosen to investigate railroad crimes and robberies, as the railroad industry boomed during this period of time. The railroads were and easy target, and were a necessary asset to the economy at the time.

The Industrial Age came with many changes to the economy, cities, and social lives of the citizens with Untied States. As they changed, the police did too. It is human nature to find solutions and adapt to new environments. It is to no surprise that the men in blue changed with their society, as they continue to do today to help protect and serve the people of this country.


Citations:
Britannica
Public Service Photo Collection 
History of Policing in America
Bartollas, Clemens, and Larry D. Hahn. Policing in America. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999. Print.
Police in the Early 20th Century
LAPD 1900-1925

Urbanization and Organized Crime

During the late 19th and early 20th century people in America were moving from small towns and rural areas to large cities.  These cities grew rapidly due to large amounts of immigration, and this created poor living conditions and crowded spaces.  Crime became a way for immigrants to make money and they quickly formed large organizations.  Without a developed police force and corrupt politicians gangs during this time were able to grow in size and power rapidly.  The rapid urbanization in America lead to the development of organized crime which in return had a significant impact on urban life.
Organized crime was not created during this time period but did change drastically.  Prior to 1870 smaller gangs such as the Whyos.  The Whyos were mostly made up of petty thieves and would commit crimes such as punching someone for two dollars, breaking a bone for ten dollars, or even killing someone for one hundred dollars.  The whyos finally dissolved around 1890.  During the late 19th century large waves of immigrants were moving to the cities and creating gangs.  These gangs were much more organized and were able to absorb the smaller gangs that had existed previously.  NationalGangCenter.gov compared the development of gangs during this time period to the progress of commerce.  Changing from individual stores to large stores with many different items available.  Gangs such as the five points gang and the Monk Eastman Gang from New York quickly became powerful and were involved in counterfeiting, drug trade, prostitution, and racketeering.  Antonio Vaccerelli "Paul Kelly" was the leader of the five points gang, Kelly grew his gang by creating youth groups as a front for getting kids involved with the gang.  Monk Eastman leader of the Jewish gang in New York trained kids as pick pockets at the age of 10.   These gangs were very organized and able to commit crimes on a much larger scale.
The Gangs also affected the politics and social landscape of cities.  Both Eastman and Kelly wanted protection from the law in New York, so they began working with the corrupt politicians in Tammany Hall including Boss Tweed.  With Backing from both of the largest gangs in New York the Tammany Hall political machine was very powerful.  The gangs would have members at the polls to intimidate people into voting a certain way, they would also stuff the ballot boxes with fake votes.  According to Historical Crimes by Wallace Edwards it was not uncommon for there to be three times the number of votes in the five points district than there were registered voters.  In return the gangs were able to commit crimes without prosecution.  Paul Kelly was arrested and should have gotten twenty years in prison but by the time of the trial his case had been manipulated so greatly that he only got 9 months.  While sentencing Kelly recorder Goff said " You should have been convicted of highway robbery.  Instead you were only convicted of assault."  This partnership between the gangs and politicians helped shape city politics and urban life during this time period.
The way people viewed certain groups of immigrants was shaped by gang violence during this time period.  In Los Angeles the Chinese immigrants had created gangs of their own called tongs.  The Hip Sing tong and the On Leong tong were the most powerful tongs at the time.  They would often fight for control over opium dens and brothels.  The Hip Sing Tong had paid off most of the police force and the On Leong tong had political ties because they had rigged election of the district attorney.  In 1900 a shootout started between the gangs in a tenement a woman and two children were injured, the police wrote this off as a gambling dispute and the woman and children were just collateral damage.  The LA Herald, a Los Angeles newspaper, posted on July 19 1907 that seven men had recieved threats stating that tong wars were imminent, the newspaper claimed that the gangs had brought in the dreaded "Hatchet Men" and it said that any Chinese person found bearing arms could be arrested.  The Chinese gang violence furthered the anti Chinese sentiment that already existed in this time period.
The rapid growth of cities between 1870 and 1915 lead to the development of large organized crime groups which eventually impacted city politics and the way people viewed immigrants.  The large organized gangs created during this time period are similar to gangs in America today.  The impact of gangs on cities during this time period helped shape urban life into what it is today.


Sources:

Absolute Crime

 Information on political impact

National Gang Center

Information on development of gangs

New York daily news

information on chinese gangs

tammany's control of new york

information on monk eastman gang and paul kelly

online textbook

Background information on urban life

Los Angeles Herald 

Primary source on tong wars (July 19, 1907)

Paul Kelly

Tammany Hall

Chinese Gangsters

tenement housing

Monk Eastman