Foundational History

Origins of US Policing

In each of these three regions, a police force came into existence in order to protect an institution and to maintain order over a specific population.

The origins of an organized police system in the United States have their history in the combination of three main geographical regions, the North, the South, and the West. In each of these three regions, a police force came into existence in order to protect an institution and to maintain order over a specific population.

In the case of the North, the primary focus of police in city centers was that of the working class. With many of them being recent immigrants and living in situations of increased economic precarity, these workers were the primary workforces of the nation’s major industries. Thus to factory heads and political leaders, these groups were seen as potential liabilities, ones that could cause unrest in the case of strikes or protests. Policing then evolved around confronting such scenarios of working-class unrest: in many cases police would work closely with owners of major industries to keep an eye on just what those workers were up to. The fear of political organizing by the lower class was always on the minds of the police.

In the case of the South, policing arises out of the protection of the institution of white supremacy. The emergence of slave patrols, an armed force made up of the local elites in order to maintain slavery, is a significant influence on policing in the south. When the civil war is over and slavery is abolished, those white elites still tried to maintain their grip on power. With the creation of black codes, a new job is made for Southern police. That job is maintaining the color line, upholding the system of Jim Crow segregation.

The last major geographical region to have an influence on American policing is the West. Seen by many at first as a lawless place, it became an effort by settlers moving out west to create a sense of order. The creation of such order is deeply tied with the settler-colonial project, and it will for most of its time be targeted against indigenous peoples. It is a hostility ranging from not viewing them as citizens, taking settlers’ sides during disputes, to being a part of military campaigns against them along with the creation of an Indian bureau police force to specifically control them. In the West, the law is only for white settlers. 

The result of these three geographical regions developing their own methods of controlling specific populations is that they will eventually come together. As the US moves further into the 19th and 20th centuries its police forces become more interconnected, thus tactics and views from each region will be shared by one another. The result is that these three histories leave a long imprint on US policing.

Definitions + Context

Slavery: Slavery in the American colonies and later the United States separated itself from other historic cases of slavery, being known as chattel slavery. Chattel slavery was a critical social and economic institution in the early United States, treating those who were enslaved as chattels or a personal property owned by the enslaver, akin to the likes of livestock that were to be bought and sold at will. Slavery in the US comprised of the enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans. Such an institution supported and ingrained views of racial hierarchies in all those who interact with it. It would be a critical part of the United States from its founding in 1776 until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment on December 6, 1865, however, the while the amendment prohibited “slavery involuntary servitude” it left an exception for such force labor “as a punishment for crime.”
Settler Colonialism: Settler Colonialism is a political project whose goal is the removal and erasure of Indigenous peoples in order to take the land for use by settlers permanently. This means that settler colonialism is not just a thing of the past, ranging from Indian removal in the 1830s, wars on the plains in the 1870s, or gold rushes in the 1840s but exists as long as settlers are living on the appropriated land. Thus the project of settler colonialism in the United States is very much a part of society into the present day.
Capitalism: Capitalism is a system in which goods and services are produced for profitable exchange. Capitalism is based on the idea of private ownership and private operations for profit. Human labor is included as a commodity for sale. A commodity is a material or product that can be bought or sold. Captialism emerged from slavery, as “there is no capitalism without slavery” according to slavery historian Walter Johnson. When slavery was active, slaves were both commodities and producers of commodities. There are operational similarities between capitalism and chattel slavery, meaning the master/slave relationship affects the modern day employer/employee relationship in many ways. With modern day globalization (the connecting and communicating of nations across the world) capitalism now goes beyond our nation’s borders. This means higher stakes, more production, and a larger buying audience. Many people criticize capitalism, including military theorist Che Guevera, who famously wrote, “One [a capitalist] can only win at the cost of the failure of others.”
White Supremacy: I. Origins of white supremacy: Settler colonialism (whiteness) shared interest in black labor and indigenous oppression. Religious agendas often pushed the agendas of white supremacists as well, using biblical text to justify racism. Churches affiliating by race allowed white churches to not be held accountable for considering black people as “brothers” (sons and daughters of God).  Thomas Jefferson famously wrote that black people were inferior to white people in terms of the body and the mind. II. White supremacy as slavery justification: Black people, who were enslaved, were considered “barbaric” and “heathens,” therefore, slavery was lawful. III. Post Civil War in the south: Black people were seen as (a) inferior, (b) not made in “God’s image,” and (c) as mentally and physically slower than white people. IV. Modern day white supremacy: White supremacy is an ideology and belief system that is still within the mindsets of many people today. This means it is embedded in our societal systems, including our economic system (capitalism), educational systems, and criminal systems. Some examples of white supremacy in our world’s systems are Apartheid (institutionalized racial segregation in Africa), Loving V. Virginia (the banning of interracial marriage Supreme Court case), Stormfront (white supremacist, neo-nazi internet forum), and more historically groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the ideas of Nazism.
Imperialism:  Imperialism is the accumulation of control over territory and dominance systems that cut across nations (typically in terms of expansion of government and power). It dictates political and economic power over a land or peoples.  White imperialism is what started our nation- stealing land from the Native Americans and colonizing it- using force on the grounds on white supremacy to achieve imperialism. Imperialism was also highly prevalent in the “scramble for Africa,” as Western imperialist powers like Britain and France were colonizing African countries. Linked to capitalism, western powers wanted control over these territories for goods like oil, ivory, rubber, cocoa, and tin.  Environmental determinism as justification for western imperialists: a theory and moral justification that people in environmentally tropical climates made those people occupying that land “uncivilized.” Therefore, the “civilized” people could take over their land to make it better. This ties in with the ideals of white supremacy and capitalism: imperializing a land because they think they are better than those people and for economic profit.