Introduction

Robert Peel was a noted British Conservative of the nineteenth century, one who enjoyed a vastly influential career in English politics. He served, in fact, as Prime Minister on two separate occasions. Despite some important actions taken by him in these terms, Peel’s legacy is most usually associated with his creation of the first metropolitan police force in Britain, in 1829. Within a few decades, Peel’s concepts and framework would cross the Atlantic and be gradually adopted by the United States, and this basic framework remains very much in place today.
Policing Before and After Peel

As regards England, there was no established police authority prior to Peel’s taking over the Home Secretary post in 1822, as it would take some years before he would be able to translate his ideas on policing into reality. There was some authority controlled by the cities and municipalities of the nation, but it was highly disorganized. The “police” appeared only during major conflicts, and British citizens were essentially expected to protect their own interest and safety. In fact, the law prior to Peel’s innovations required that each male citizen own a gun for this purpose (Stevens, 2008, p. 45).

It seems that establishing a controlled police force was always something of a concern for Peel; as early as 1813, while serving as Chief Secretary for Dublin, he attempted to form such a constabulary there, perhaps as a trial measure. It would not be until 1829, however, with the additional powers of Home Secretary to support him, that Peel could actually set in motion this first, city force. It was composed of approximately one thousand officers. The ranks have, of course, steadily increased over the years, yet the British police are to this day are referred to as “bobbies”, as derived from Robert Peel’s name.

Meanwhile, and not unexpectedly, the policing situation in the United States was as unstructured and diverse as that of London’s before the Peel reforms. Early American law enforcement was very much a mixed affair, relying on constables, night watches, and vigilance committees, all varying in scope and presence by location. Given the enormous variety of policing methods used and evolving throughout the country in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it is virtually impossible to exactly know when the majority of actual, American police forces took shape (Maguire, 2003, p. 117). It is easier to identify this progress, however, in the major cities: “New York City was the first American to establish a London style police department in 1845…other major cities were quick to follow New York in uniforming their police” (Forte, 2000, p. 18).

The Peel concepts crossed the ocean virtually unchanged, and became the foundations for the American police procedures and policies still in practice today. His list of principles guiding the creation of the first police force, in fact, holds up still to modern scrutiny, as the precepts were and are heavily influenced by democratic concerns. That the police must act with the full respects of citizens, render law enforcement in a completely impartial manner, and that the police are essentially as one with the public, were all provisions written into Peel’s framework (Conser, et al., 2005, p. 44). British in origin, all of it nonetheless powerfully reflects the ideologies of the U. S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Conclusion

It is arguable that Sir Robert Peel’s legacy remains fixed, and rarely controversial, because the principles behind his creation of the first, organized police force were modeled on a commitment to civil liberty. It was essential, for example, that the police not be in any way affiliated with current political changes, but always draw their authority from the state, and it appears that Peel exercised great foresight in understanding that the public good must be a constant distinctly apart from shifts in political landscapes. No ideology could be more right for the United States, as the concepts devised by this British statesman perfectly reflected American ideals. In enormously stabilizing English society with the formation of its first police fore, Peel incidentally gave to the United States a model which endures virtually unchanged.