by George Kane

About the author: George Kane is a staff reporter for the New Unionist, a monthly socialist newspaper.

It is a common failing to believe that nothing ever changes. So with thinking about the police: we’ve always had them and we always will.

A Recent Institution

Actually, as chronicled by Jerome Skolnick and James Fyfe in their book, Above the Law, police forces are a relatively recent institution, a creation of the Industrial Age. In this country, police were introduced in Boston in 1837, and in New York City in 1845.

The early American police forces were modeled after the London Metropolitan Police, organized by Sir Robert Peel in 1829 after 50 years of recurring riots in the city. The transformation of English society brought about by the Industrial Revolution had created a propertyless class of...