Compare and contrast police hiring practices of the nineteenth century with those of today

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Tammany Hall in New York City in the 19th century picked the police officers in NYPD according to the political slogan of the day "To the victors belong the spoils" which was actually left over from Jacksonian Democracy (that is in President Andrew Jackson) and we can add the cry of Tammany Hall "I saw My Chances and I Took Them." The criterion of honesty was, "Once you are bought, you stayed bought and did not betray your paymasters." This was in high contrast to the 1829 Metropolitan Police Act which established professional/military criteria for the first modern police department in London.

American police in different parts of the country became more professionalized over time until Civil Service became the norm with the 1883 Pendleton Act and the follow up by local and state governments. J. Edgar Hoover professionalized the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the early part of the 20th century. The introduction of written tests, physical agility testing, background checks and the like slowly took hold after World War II. Some departments today require higher education and demand a certain number of credit hours of higher education before hiring.