POLICE is that department of govern ment which has for its object the safety and peace of the community.
Its primary object is the prevention of crime and the pursuit of offenders ; but the police system also serves other pur poses, such as the suppression of mendi cancy, the preservation of order in great thoroughfares, the removal of obstructions and nuisances, and the enforcing of laws which relate to the public health.
In the Anglo-Saxon period the sheriff of each county, chosen by the freeholders in the folkmote, was the chief officer for the conservation of the peace ; and in his half-yearly visitations to each hundred iu the county, he inquired whether there was any relaxation in the efficiency of the means for effecting this object. The hundred originally consisted of ten divi sions, each containing ten freeholders, mutually pledged to repress delinquencies within their district. All males above the age of twelve were obliged to appear at the sheriff's visitation, to state the dis trict to which they belonged, and to be sworn to keep the peace. Oue out of every ten freeholders had precedency of his companions, and the whole were bound to bring delinquents to justice within thirty days on pain of being them selves liable to penalties. The popula tion was thinly scattered ; every man was known to his neighbours ; and no man could depart from his dwelling with out the consent of his fellow-pledges; and the consent of the sheriff was neces sary to enable a man legally to go out of his own county. No man could enter a neighbourhood without being recognised as a stranger ; and if there was any sus picion, a hue and cry was raised if the stranger could give no good account of himself. [Hum AND CRY.] After the Conquest, the advantages of the system were recognised by several of the Norman kings, particularly by Wil liam I., and by Henry I. in the early part of his reign. William I. ordered that every freeman should be under pledges, and Henry I. that views of frank-pledge should be taken in order that none might escape responsibility. But a great innovation was made in the Anglo-Saxon system, when the sheriff, instead of being elected by the free holders, was appointed directly by the king ; and the sheriff's " tourn," or half yearly visitation, was soon neglected.
When Henry I. instituted the office of justices-itinerant, the functions of the sheriff became of still less importance., By the stat. Merton, c. 10, passed 20th Henry III. (1236), freemen who owed suit to the county or hundred court were allowed to appear by attorney. The stat. Marl., e. 10, c. 24, passed in the 52 Henry III. (1264), dispensed with the attendance of the baronage and clergy at the sheriffs court unless their attendance was specially required; and it also pro hibited the justices-itinerant from amer cing townships on account of persons above the age of twelve years not having been sworn in pledges for keeping the peace. By these various measures the ancient system was greatly impaired; and the new laws which were introduced from time to time for the purpose of re pressing crime do not seem to have been very successful. In 1277, nine years after the passing of the statute of Marl borough, the absence of " quick and fresh pursuit" of felons is noticed as an evil which was increasing. To supply the energy and alacrity of the old system, fines and penalties were imposed by the stat. Westminster, prim., 3 Edward I., sec. 9, on all who neglected to pursue offenders. The statute directs that " all generally be ready and apparelled at the commandment and summons of the sheriffs, and at the cry of the county to pursue and arrest any felons when any need is." The statute of Winchester, 13 Edward I. (1285), endeavoured to main tain the spirit of the Anglo-Saxon laws by making the county or hundred re sponsible in case of a delinquent not being forthcoming, and the duty of appre hending him was cast upon all the king's subjects. This statute also regulated the office of constable, an officer who had succeeded the Anglo-Saxon hundred or tything man. [CONSTABLE.] The pre vention of crime, as well as the pursuit of criminals, was also one of the primary duties of constables, and they were charged to make presentment at the assizes, sessions of the peace or leet, of all blood-sheddings, affrays. outcries, rescues, and other offences against the peace. The justices to whom these presentments were made in the first instance, reported directly to the justices-itinerant, or at once to the king or his privy-council ; and the supreme executive made provision accordingly. At the same time the re sponsibility cast upon the hundred quick ened the vigilance of the inhabitants ; and this responsibility extended to in dividuals in many cases. The fbllowing
extracts from the Year-Books of the Ex chequer are instances of this: "16 Ed ward I., Sussex : murder and robbery— township of Tyndon amerced, because it happened by day, and they did not take the offender." "6 Edward II., Kent : manslaughter (upon a sudden quarrel) committed in the highway of Wrotham three bystanders amerced because they were present when the aforesaid Robert killed the aforesaid John, and did not take him." And in the reign of Eliza beth the popular vigilance which this system had created leads a writer of that day to remark that every Englishman is a serjeant to take the thief, and who showeth negligence therein do not only incur evil opinion therefore, but hardly shall escape punishment." Instead of being almost entirely en gaged in agriculture, as in the Anglo Saxon period, and for several centuries after the Norman conquest, the popula tion is now occupied in great diversity of employments. Persons so engaged, and the more numerous class who live by manual labour, cannot now follow up the "quick and fresh pursuit" of felons, at the cry of the hundred or county: such a duty is incompatible with their ordinary pursuits. A pursuit at the call of tl sheriff would now be quite inefiectua an offender may have committed a ro bery in Lancashire in the evening, as be concealed in the metropolis by U next morning. As a consequence these various changes, it has not bee possible to render the hundred responsib for the delinquencies committed with its limits, and the inhabitants being no except in a few cases (7 & 8 Geo. IV. 31), free from such responsibility, the are careless respecting either the preve tion of crime or the apprehension criminals. While the disposition of tl people to aid the public force in the duties was gradually diminishing, U duties of the constable became mm more complicated, and required the who of his time. The same necessity whit had rendered a standing army, instead a militia, a more useful division of es ployment, had become equally urgent the ease of those on whom devolved U duty of keeping the peace and watchir over the security of the eommunit Instead however of the constabulai force being re-organised, and adapted a new state of society, it was suffered remain, with weaker powers, to cope wii circumstances which demanded increase vigilance, activity, and intelligent The office of constable remained still yearly appointment, and one so o noxious, that persons were thrust into who were incapable of executing U duties. Under the most favourable ci cumstances, the loss of time and U scanty remuneration offered no induc went to exertion ; and if the duties we performed with something like energ by the farmer or small tradesman durst his year of office, they were perform' at the risk of injuring their private i terests. A power so constituted cann effectually prevent crime ; and it equally inefficient for the purposes inquiry and presentment. The pari: constable usually acts only when call' upon by sonic private party, and tl services of the constabulary force a only combined occasionally, when as evil has become so extensive as to exci loud complaint, and then the absence general regulations and rules of disciplii renders their services of comparatively little value. In the manufacturing dis tricts when any disturbance is appre hended, such a force is useless, and the practice is either to swear iu a large number of special constables, or to call in the aid of the military power. The special constables are deficient in the necessary discipline, and they are as timid in the performance of their duties as they are unwilling to undertake them. The appearance of controlling a district by military force is an evil which, under present circumstances, cannot always be avoided. The want of confidence in the old police force is also attested by the ex istence of numerous voluntary associations for the apprehension and prosecution of felons : their funds are expended in the prosecution of criminals, rather than in the prevention of crime. Some of these associations have rules which bind the members, as in the case of horse-stealing, to take horse and join in pursuit of the thief. Railway Acts bind the com panies to maintain a police during the formation of the line. An Act was passed in August, 1840 (3 & 4 Viet. c. 50), entitled " An Act to provide for keeping the peace on canals and navigable rivers." Private watchmen are also extensively employed in docks and warehouses.