Jared Hoffman

Mrs. Burr, Instructor

English 2010

6 April 2017

Fact Sheet

Numbers of Law Enforcement: There are 806,400 police officers in the United States as of

2014 though only 765,000 have general policing powers.

Types of Police Forces: There are federal police agencies like the Federal Bureau of

Investigation. There are state police forces in all 50 states in the United States. Local

municipalities also have their own police forces and these make up a large portion of the police

in the United states. Additionally there are fish and game police and county police.
Policing History Ancient to Medieval: In the time of Hammurabi, the writer of the first known

law code, there was a group of early police officers called the messengers. The messengers were

tasked with both finding people who had violated the law and the punishment of the offenders.

The Assyrians established one of the first public court systems. The Roman Empire was

the first place in the world to create a civilian police force. This first civilian police force was

called a vigil and they spent time preserving order and safety for the people of rome and the

lands nearby. After the fall of rome on the english isles most law enforcement was done

communally or in fiefdoms.

Policing History Colonial to Present: Sir Robert Peel created an act called the Metropolitan

Police Improvement Bill. This bill eventually was very effective in decreasing the amount of

crime in England at the time by establishing a professional police force. Many local governments

around the world, especially in America, adopted Peels practices. Nowadays most police forces

practice community policing.