A History of Policing

About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about a history of policing, focusing in particular on: (i) Sir Robert Peel, who was home secretary at the time of the 1829 Metropolitan Police Act, which was the formal introduction of the police in Greater London; (ii) the 1856 County and Borough police act, which made police forces in all areas of England and Wales compulsory; (iii) policing prior to 1829 consisting primarily of privately hired individuals tasked with solving a crime, often retrieving stolen property; (iv) the undesirability of this era of policing, due to the vigilante nature of the individuals performing police work; (v) Jonathan Wild who operated both as a member of the criminal underworld and as an assistant to police investigations; (vi) Henry Fielding, who founded the Bow Street Runners in 1749, a precursory force to the Metropolitan police.

About the lecturer

Professor Daniel McCarthy is professor in criminology in the Department of Sociology and co-director of the Centre for Criminology at the University of Surrey. Professor McCarthy’s research interests are in policing, inter-agency working and the effects of incarceration on the incarcerated and their families. Some of Professor McCarthy’s recent publications include ‘Gendering ‘soft’ policing: Multi-agency working, female cops, and the fluidities of police cultures’ (2013) and ‘Can family-prisoner relationships ever improve during incarceration? Examining the primary caregivers of incarcerated young men’ (2019).