The History of Policing America

Laurence Armand French, Phd, is professor emeritus of psychology at Western New Mexico University and senior research associate at the JusticeWorks Institute at the University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH. He has taught criminology, criminal justice, sociology, and psychology at various universities, including minority-serving universities and has won awards for this minority-based research. He is Senior Fulbright Scholar assigned to the University of Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the 2009/2010 academic year. He has written many articles and books, including Frog Town: Portrait of a French Canadian Parish in New England (R&L, 2014), Running the Border Gauntlet (2010) and Native American Justice (R&L, 2003). He received the 1999 National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) research award for his work in assessing substance abuse among minorities in the U.S. southwest.

Part I: Origins of U.S. Law Enforcement: Militias, Military, Marshals, and Sheriffs
Chapter 1: Introduction: Colonial Roots in Policing America
Chapter 2: Introduction to the Origins of American Jurisprudence
Chapter 3: Growing Pains—1783–1865: Insurrections, Rebellions, and Indian Removal
Chapter 4: Post–Civil War Unrest and Social Control during the Nineteenth Century

Part II: Law and Order in the Americas and Beyond, 1898–1946
Chapter 5: U.S. Colonial Expansionism in the Caribbean and Pacific
Chapter 6: Reinforcing WASP White Supremacy: Eugenics and Prohibition
Chapter 7: Post–World War II Challenges to Law Enforcement

Part III: Civil Rights Aftermath: Increased Militarization and Racial Myths Enhancement
Chapter 8: The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act
Chapter 9: Role of Academia in Validating “Institutional Racism”
Chapter 10: The War on Drugs and Its Escalation
Chapter 11: Factors Contributing to the Militarization of the Police

Part IV: Twenty-First-Century Concerns
Chapter 12: Understanding Group Dynamics, Biases, Prejudices, and Discrimination
Chapter 13: Assessing Law Enforcement Personnel
Chapter 14: Politics and Policing
Chapter 15: Recommendations for American Law Enforcement

Postscript: An Ethno-Methodological Note