Police History

There are many histories of the police as a law-enforcement institution, but no genealogy of the police as a form of power. This book provides a genealogy of the modern police by tracing the evolution of ‘police science’ and of police institutions in Europe, from the ancien régime to the early 19th century. Drawing on the theoretical path outlined by Michel Foucault at the crossroads between historical sociology, critical legal theory and critical criminology, it shows how the development of police power was an integral part of the birth of the modern state’s governmental rationalities and how police institutions were conceived as political technologies for the government and social disciplining of populations. Understanding modern police not as an institution at the service of the judiciary and the law, but as a complex political technology for governing the economic and social processes typical of modern capitalist societies, this book shows how the police have played an active role in actually shaping order, rather than merely preserving it.

ABSTRACT: This video re-enactment draws upon preserved late Dynasty 20 papyri and other data regarding robberies of royal tombs in the West Bank of Thebes and the Valley of the Kings, including official accusations of corruption within all levels of society from the pharaoh’s tomb builders (at Deir el-Medina), to other towns persons, the police, officials, priests, and even the mayor of West Thebes.  This documentary response sheet contains a series of sequential questions drawn from the video, TLC: Ancient Egyptians, episode 2: Tomb Robbers (shown in-class; also available online via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAqXqsXcTds [50 minutes]).  These sequential questions aim to maximize both student attention to various pertinent points made throughout the documentary and greater retention of the materials covered by the documentary.  In addition, the documentary has been vetted for overall content accuracy (albeit updated and/or corrected in-class), and selected to provide supplementary visual aids (e.g., images of regions, sites, finds, and other materials; re-enactments), and other data to aid in student comprehension of the course lectures and readings from the textbooks. REVISED: Adding time marker for each question, plus value for reflection question (March 2017).

There is a line of reasoning shared by police officials, police unions, legislators, and civil rights organizers that supposes that videos of the police behaving badly will naturally lead to reform. This is the logic that fuels expensive body camera programs, like the ones implemented by the NYPD, LAPD, and Department of Justice. However, the idea that surveillance in the hands of the state can be somehow emancipatory is laughable. To equate the footage of Rodney King or Eric Garner with footage taken from police cameras is to fundamentally misunderstand the nuance that images express. Existing social vulnerabilities migrate seamlessly into new technologies, and photography’s dominant mode is to reinforce, not resist, existing structures of power.

Convocation Address at Bethel University, August 29, 2016 about recent troubles in Minnesota, particularly the shooting of Philando Castille, and our responsibility as followers of the Gospel. There is an audio link also available. After you click the link, it's the first one in the queue; fast-forward to 15:00:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/2016-2017-chapel-college-arts/id1148681753?mt=10

Poiares, N. (2021). A Ciência Policial em Portugal: o reconhecimento pela Comunidade Científica Internacional. Lição Inaugural da Cerimónia de Abertura Solene do Ano Académico 2021-2022, presidida por Sua Excelência o Ministro da Administração Interna, em 2 de dezembro de 2021. Lisboa: ISCPSI.

Although the genesis of women police dates back to 1925, not much information on the activities of this formation has been preserved until today. It is known that it was established on the initiative of the Polish Committee for the Fight Against Trafficking in Women and Children and its main goal was to fight prostitution, to prevent women from being taken out of the country and exploited for work as prostitutes, and later also to take care of children. The formation was supervised by lt. Stanisława Filipina Paleolog. Her duties included controlling female police officers in terms of their task performance, as well as taking care of new candidates. In the article, on the basis of archival documents, the author analyses control reports and protocols drawn up during that period, on the basis of which it is possible to reconstruct, at least partially, the history of Polish female police officers in the late 1930s.

Artículo publicado en el libro: "Policías escritores, delitos impresos. Revistas policiales en América del Sur", coordinado por Diego Galeano y Marcos Luiz Bretas.
Se puede descargar de manera gratuita en el siguiente link: https://www.editorialteseo.com/archivos/14683/policias-escritores-delitos-impresos/

Public health has always been a constant concern for any society. It is not surprising, therefore, that everywhere, from far back in time, we recognise institutions aimed at preserving it and apparatuses which were entrusted with the task of controlling the behaviour of the population. Protecting public health meant protecting people and animals from epidemics, but it also meant public hygiene, food quality and individual health. A highly significant topic that the essays published here deal with from the Middle Ages to the present day, focusing both on emergency situations (epidemic management) and on the organisation and control of everyday life, with the awareness that one of the most important operations of social discipline was carried out through health police measures.
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La sanità è stata da sempre una costante preoccupazione per qualsiasi società. Non stupisce pertanto che ovunque, da epoche molto risalenti, si riconoscano istituzioni volte a tutelarla e apparati cui era affidato il compito di controllare i comportamenti della popolazione. Tutelare la sanità pubblica voleva dire salvaguardare uomini e animali dalle epidemie, ma significava anche igiene pubblica, qualità delle derrate alimentari, salute individuale. Un mondo di grande interesse che i saggi qui pubblicati affrontano dal Medioevo all’età contemporanea, portando l’attenzione tanto sui momenti di emergenza (gestione delle epidemie) quando sull’organizzazione e il controllo della quotidianità, nella consapevolezza che attraverso le misure di polizia sanitaria si sia svolta una delle massime operazioni di disciplinamento sociale.

En: Claves. Revista de Historia, Vol. 3, N°4, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, 2017, pp.105-134

Resumen. El artículo presenta algunos resultados de una investigación más amplia sobre el proceso de conformación de policías en Chile durante el siglo XIX. Se ocupa principalmente del cuerpo de los Gendarmes de las Colonias, creado en 1896 para enfrentar el bandolerismo en las regiones del sur del país. Esta fuerza, encabezada por el controvertido capitán de ejército Hernán Trizano, cumplió labores policiales en aquellos parajes y, a poco andar, se extendió también hacia otras provincias. En el texto se exponen los antecedentes sobre los gendarmes recopilados a partir de archivos de ministerios e intendencias. Asimismo, se discuten las condiciones de operación y los efectos de la intervención de esta fuerza, cuya organización, modelo operativo y carácter militarizado inspiró al futuro cuerpo de los Carabineros de Chile.
Palabras clave: gendarmes-policía rural – bandolerismo-Araucanía

This article deals with the history and word formation of the Icelandic word for ‘police’, i.e. lögregla. The word constitutes an interesting case of word formation in that said lexeme is a dvandva compound whose creation is related to the expression að halda uppi lögum og reglu ‘to maintain law and order’. Moreover, it is argued that the word has arisen in the wake of the Icelandic purist movement in the first half of the 19th century, and that its creator is Konráð Gíslason, who was at the time a
member of the Icelandic Literary Society (Hið íslenzka bókmenntafélag) and editor of the journal Fjölnir. According to the sources, the word, lögregla, cannot have been formed as an independent lexical item. In fact, the word appears first in a compound with maður ‘man’, meaning ‘policeman’ or, more precisely, ‘a man who is in charge of maintaining
law and order’. It is argued that lögregla has in fact been created in order to gradually substitute the Danish loanword pólití, first in compounds such as pólitímaður and pólitíþjónn ‘policeman’, and then as a single lexeme. The Danish loanword pólití had a twofold meaning: ‘policeman’ and ‘police’. Moreover, it is argued that lögregla, as an unbound lexeme, was initially a shortened form for lögreglumaður, and later assumed
the general meaning ‘police force’ by means of synecdoche (pars pro toto).

This edited collection of 9 articles plus an introductions covers a series of distinct legal historical topics including Irish Whig Ideology in early Upper Canada, Policing and Moral Entrepreneurship in England and Australia, the judiciary in the Canadian Northwest Territories, women and the criminal law, women and the legal profession, religious enthusiasm and the law in Oregon, and police culture in the British Columbia Provincial Police. These essays were brought together to acknowledge the influence and contributions to legal history made by Dr. Louis A. Knafla, formerly of the University of Calgary.

L’instauration en France d’une "carte d’identité d’étranger", par un décret d’avril 1917, première expérience en Europe d’une identification ciblée de tous les résidants étrangers sur le sol national, marque une étape fondamentale dans l’histoire du contrôle de l’immigration en France. Ce document d’identité spécifique, réservé à un segment de la population qui se trouve définie par ce biais comme "étrangère", indique l’intérêt renouvelé des autorités politiques et administratives, à la fin de la Première Guerre mondiale, pour une identification adaptée des étrangers. La création de cette carte indique un tournant dans l’histoire du régime législatif et administratif de la IIIe République et dans la régulation, nationale et internationale, du marché du travail ; elle montre aussi le poids des grands basculements historiques dans les manières d’identifier et d’enregistrer les étrangers.

This writing, "Creative Community Policing Initiatives in Columbia, South Carolina," appears as Chapter 4 in Dennis Stevens' edited book, Policing and Community Partnerships.  To meet the public safety needs of increasingly diverse neighborhoods in cities across the nation, creative and innovative community policing initiatives seem to be required to curb and to prevent crimes and related problems and to bridge the gap between the police and citizens through community involvement in policing activities. Community policing is guided by the values of building partnerships, people helping people, and community organizing. In this light, community policing initiatives in Columbia, South Carolina, are characterized by the concept of "shared responsibility." In this chapter, therefore, the creative and innovative community policing initiatives in Columbia, South Carolina, are examined. This discussion thus focuses on questions as they relate to the community initiatives of the Columbia Police Department and the City of Columbia, South Carolina.

Dentro de los orígenes históricos de la policía, es posible identificar dos puntos de vista en gran parte opuestos, pero igualmente fundados: el primero considera a la policía como un cuerpo que suministra una respuesta a la sociedad civil ante la demanda de protección y de seguridad emanada de los ciudadanos; el segundo, a la inversa, como un cuerpo creado por el poder político para imponer el respeto de las leyes a las clases sociales y a las organizaciones al margen

To commemorate the Coronation of King George V on the 22 June 1911, medals were awarded to all of the UK mainland police forces and affiliated services, including the Royal Irish Constabulary. Eligibility was not confined merely to those who were on duty in London during the Coronation. The medal was not awarded to the Dublin Metropolitan Police.
No formal roll has been located for the distribution of this medal to the Irish Constabulary.  This paper will propose a nominal roll for the Coronation (Police) Medal 1911 based on the best available evidence.

"A ideia de que a população portuguesa sempre viveu pacatamente, aceitando sem contestar as contrariedades económicas e políticas (incluindo quatro décadas de ditadura), é falsa. As suas relações com o Estado traduziram-se em frequentes conflitos, que os governos tentaram controlar com recurso a diferentes tácticas e instrumentos.

Este livro é ao mesmo tempo uma história dos movimentos sociais em Portugal e uma história das intervenções da polícia e do exército nesses conflitos, desde a vitória liberal de 1834 até à consolidação da democracia, em finais do século xx. E tem em conta duas dimensões: primeiro, a capacidade de o Estado se afirmar no território e construir uma administração respeitada, que conhece a população e o território, que cobra impostos e que assegura a vigência da lei e o respeito pelas sentenças judiciais; segundo, os dilemas políticos implícitos no uso da força para manter a ordem, sobretudo quando a coerção se abate sobre cidadãos que defendem os seus direitos."

By September 1939, Luxembourgish diplomatic efforts to see the neutral status of the Grand Duchy reaffirmed by a multilateral declaration of the European powers had reached a dead end. With the outbreak of hostilities, the country found itself caught between the Maginot and Siegfried Line, hence risking to become a battle-contested area between the war-waging armies. To make the situation even more difficult, neutral Luxembourg could not call upon a strong military to protect its national integrity but had to rely merely on its 700-head strong Force Armée. Besides their numerical inferiority, these armed forces were – due to their police-like character – neither organized, trained nor equipped to meet the requirements of a “real” military deployment along the national borders facing Germany and France. Worst of all, an internal order even forbade the troops to use their weapons in case of an enemy invasion – seemingly making it a national military without any military value or raison d’être in the face of the imminent conflict.
This contribution aims to discuss the role of the Luxembourgish armed forces in the Phoney War by analysing their functions and tasks through military documents in the Foreign affairs section of the Luxembourgish National Archives. By examining the steps and measures taken by the Force Armée in face of the conflict, the paper focusses on its potential room for manoeuvre, its role and its actual raison d’être in the Phoney War. In the face of a largely inexistent Luxembourgish military historiography, the contribution finally also tries to provide a clearer picture of the Luxembourgish armed forces before 1940 in general by giving deeper insight into the institutional characteristics and dispositions of the Force Armée.

Under okkupasjonen vokste det frem et nytt norsk politi etter tysk modell. Politiaspirantskolen på Kongsvinger var selve grunnsteinen i denne omdannelsen. Under rettsoppgjøret ble bare et mindretall av de som gikk på de såkalte ”kongsvingerkursene” straffet og flere fikk fortsette i politiet. Men hva lærte man egentlig på Kongsvinger? Og hva skulle politiminister Jonas Lie bruke ”det nye norske politi” til? Denne artikkelen tar for seg forholdet mellom okkupasjonstidens ”vanlige” norske ordenspolitifolk og deres beryktede tyske kolleger – Einsatzgruppenes bødler på Østfronten.

Se trata de la transcripción del contenido del Nº 1 de la revista Memorias de un chorro (publicado el 21 de octubre de 1921), que contiene transcriptos dos guiones de cuentos del tío. A este material se le suma un estudio preliminar de Oscar Conde denominado "Dos dramaturgias del «cuento del tío»: Memorias de un chorro (1921)".

"English abstract
Genealogy of public security. Theory and history of modern police powers

The book aims at drawing a genealogy of modern police powers. It considers the case of England, France and Prussia following the evolution of police knowledge and police powers from the ancien régime until the beginning of 19th Century. The book draws largely on the theoretical path outlined by Michel Foucault with his works on the genealogy of the modern “ratio gubrnatoria”. Police powers are thus analyzed not just as simple repressive tools, but more broadly as political technologies for the government of the population. The book does not replicate the classic paradigm of police studies, describing the police as an institution of social control called to preserve social order, but aims at analyzing police as complex power/knowledge dispositif called to produce new forms of social order.

Spanish Synopsis
Genealogia de la seguridad publica. Teoría e historia del dispositivo policial moderno

El libro, brinda una reconstrucción genealógica del nacimiento de los poderes de seguridad pública modernos en las sociedades occidentales. El estudio considera los casos de Inglaterra, Francia y el área alemana (Prusia), durante la transición desde el antiguo régimen a la edad moderna, y termina con el análisis de la configuración que alcanzaron los poderes policiales en el siglo XIX.
La investigación se ha realizado teniendo presente la línea teórica indicada por Michel Foucault en sus trabajos recientes sobre la genealogía de la ratio gubernatoria. Por lo tanto, los poderes de policía han sido analizados no tanto o, mejor dicho, no sólo como meros instrumentos de prevención y represión de la criminalidad, sino más bien como verdaderas tecnologías políticas para el gobierno de la población.
Tal investigación pretende ser un análisis tanto de la estructura y las funciones que asumieron los poderes policiales en las sociedades modernas, como de la evolución semántica de la noción de policía en la cultura político-jurídica moderna. Por consiguiente, el trabajo que presentamos se ubica en un punto de unión entre varias disciplinas. En efecto, se encuentra entre la historia de las instituciones y la cultura político-jurídica moderna, por un lado, y la sociología jurídica y del control social, por el otro, y se dirige, en particular, tanto a los especialistas de teoría e historia de las instituciones de control social, como a los especialistas de filosofía y sociología política.
El trabajo comienza con la descripción de la dialéctica teórica entre los conceptos de iurisdictio y politia que, en el amanecer de la edad moderna, fue suscitada por el desarrollo institucional del absolutismo político. Los dos términos sintetizaban en esa época dos maneras distintas de concebir las relaciones entre derecho y política.
Tal como el análisis intenta ilustrar, el surgimiento del absolutismo político signó la preeminencia de la noción de politia como expresión de una concepción del derecho y la política más abiertamente voluntarista. Por lo tanto, la noción de policía surge en el marco del desarrollo del absolutismo político, en torno de la reconsideración de los temas iuspublicistas sobre la prerrogativa soberana de violación y cambio del marco jurídico.
Al principio de su evolución semántica, esa noción tenía una naturaleza francamente político-jurídica, fuertemente ligada al surgimiento de la noción moderna de soberanía. Paralelamente, sin embargo, se venía desarrollando una dimensión ulterior del término. En torno del desarrollo de las políticas mercantilistas y de potencia de los Estados modernos, se venía articulando el discurso de las artes de gobierno como instrumentos para la gestión de la cosa pública y el incremento de las fuerzas del Estado. En el marco de esta reflexión sobre el gobierno, la noción de policía asumió progresivamente las connotaciones típicas de un concepto político-administrativo, y expresó la idea del bienestar material y moral de la población que debía garantizar la autoridad.
Por lo tanto, la noción de policía surge en el amanecer de la edad moderna como conmixtión entre los temas político-jurídicos del ius politiae soberano, es decir, la suprema prerrogativa de violación del marco jurídico en la situación de excepción, y los temas político-administrativos de la buena policía, es decir, la sabiduría practica que el soberano está llamado a tener en el gobierno de los procesos económico-sociales de los que dependen la riqueza y la potencia de las naciones.
La policía encontró del lado de su dimensión político-administrativa el espacio para su pleno florecimiento teórico-práctico. En el marco de la filosofía eudemonista que inspiró a la política de los Estados absolutos europeos, las instituciones y los saberes de policía pudieron florecer como instrumentos para procurar el bienestar de la población.
La parte central de la investigación describe justamente la maduración teórica e institucional del dispositivo policial moderno, al analizar detalladamente sus diversas articulaciones: policía del territorio, policía económica y policía de la población.
El trabajo concluye con el análisis de lo que hemos definido dispersión de los poderes policiales, es decir, el proceso por medio del cual la crítica liberal a la filosofía eudemonista que había inspirado a las antiguas ciencias de policía, transformó radicalmente el dispositivo policial moderno.
Tal crítica se articuló de acuerdo con dos directrices fundamentales: fue, por un lado, un discurso político-jurídico que retomó los antiguos motivos del constitucionalismo medieval, sintetizados en la idea de iurisdictio, y los articuló en la moderna teoría del Estado de derecho (iusnaturalismo liberal moderno); y, por otro lado, fue también un discurso político-administrativo que ejercitó una crítica radical interna de las antiguas ciencias de policía, y llevó a la fundación del discurso moderno de la economía política (utilitarismo).
Esa crítica dúplice que embistió el dispositivo policial moderno, tuvo el efecto de revolucionar el significado de la noción y la función de las instituciones policiales, si bien en la diversidad de los presupuestos epistemológicos llamados a sostener el discurso liberal. Estas instituciones perdieron así todas las antiguas funciones económicas y administrativas ligadas a la idea de policía del bienestar, y fueron reducidas a un mero dispositivo de seguridad, instrumento de gobierno con consecuencias sociales más impetuosas, producidas por la liberalización de la policía económica y la población del antiguo régimen.
El papel de tornasol para el análisis de las transformaciones que embistieron el dispositivo policial fue justamente la distinta manera en que la policía desarrolló sus funciones de instrumento de gobierno de la población entre el antiguo régimen y la edad moderna. En efecto, si bien la policía del antiguo régimen miraba a un proyecto de disciplinamiento total del espacio social y a la recuperación de la utilidad productiva de cada uno de los individuos, el objetivo declarado era la eliminación de la pobreza, entendida como desperdicio de recursos materiales y humanos, y factor de desorden; por otro lado, la policía liberal renunció al ambicioso objetivo de disciplinar todo aspecto de la vida económica y social de la nación, y redujo la pobreza a un factor normal, uno de los elementos fundamentales para el desarrollo económico.
En este sentido, se comprende de qué manera la organización de la seguridad pública que se cristalizó en el siglo XIX pudo estar llamada explícitamente a mantener la pobreza, según la expresión de los reformadores de la época, es decir, a asegurar su existencia a costos sociales y políticos aceptables."

In the early modern town, the public peace was not simply kept by one institution. Individual citizens, corporations and (semi-)governmental bodies all policed the early modern city. I will analyze the transition of the traditional system of urban policing to the modern institution called ‘police’, roughly between 1795 and 1820. I shall centre my attention on Amsterdam, because this city served as a ‘test plot’ for the provincial and central authorities in those years. New regulations concerning policing were often tried out in Amsterdam before being applied to the rest of the country. On the one hand, this was the result of the reform policy of the Department of Holland that was eager to reform the police in all its cities, including Amsterdam. And on the other hand, Napoleonic administrators feared that Amsterdam’s population might rebel against the French. To what extent and in which way was Amsterdam’s traditional policing system – an amalgam of strictly local institutions – transformed into a centralized police force at the turn of the nineteenth century?