Police History
Became law in 1920 and forbade the sale and manufacture of alcohol. Name the Act.
Volstead Act
Select group of highly qualified members of the military established by the Roman emperor Augustus to protect him and his palace.
Praetorian Guard
Weekly crime strategy meetings, featuring the latest computerized crime statistics and high?stress brainstorming; developed by the New York City Police Department in the mid-1990s.
CompStat
Yearly collection of aggregate crime statistics prepared by the FBI based upon citizens’ reports of crimes to the police.
UCR (Uniform Crime Reports)
The standard of proof that is necessary for police officers to conduct stops and frisks.
Reasonable Suspicion
A form of community self-protection developed by King Alfred the Great in the latter part of the ninth century in England.
Mutual Pledge
Early Roman firefighters who also patrolled Rome’s streets to protect citizens.
Vigiles
Published the first national study of the U.S. criminal justice system in 1931.
Wickersham Commission
An interpretation of the U.S. Constitution by the U.S. Supreme Court that holds that evidence seized in violation of the Constitution cannot be used in court against a defendant.
Exclusionary Rule
The standard of proof required to make an arrest of a suspect.
Probable Cause
A method developed in early England for citizens to summon assistance from fellow members of the community.
Hue and Cry
An official assigned to keep the peace in the mutual pledge system in England.
Constable
Commission created in 1968 to address the reasons for the riots of the 1960s.
Kerner Commission
Evidence that is seized by police without a warrant who have the right to be in a position or place to observe it.
Plain View Evidence
Legal concept relating to the search for and confiscation of evidence by the police.
Search and Seizure
Private English citizens with no official status who were paid by the king for every criminal they arrested. They were similar to the bounty hunter of the American West.
Thief-Takers
Early English official placed in charge of shires (counties) as part of the system of mutual pledge; evolved into the modern concept of the sheriff.
Shire-reeve
Common law descendent of the old hue and cry. If a crime spree occurred or a dangerous criminal was in the area, the U.S. frontier sheriff would call upon the ___________, a Latin term meaning “the power of the county.”
posse comitatus
The questioning of a person in police custody regarding his or her participation in a crime.
Custodial Interrogation
The detaining of a person by law enforcement officers for the purpose of investigation, accompanied by a superficial examination of the person’s body surface or clothing to discover weapons, contraband, or other objects relating to criminal activity.
Stop and Frisk
System of policing created by Sir Robert Peel for the London Metropolitan Police in 1829 in which officers were assigned to relatively small permanent posts.
Beat System
The 1991 videotaped beating of an African American citizen by members of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Rodney King Incident
Infamous U.S. Supreme Court decision of 1857 ruling that slaves had no rights as citizens because they were considered to be property.
Dred Scott Decision
Police identification procedure involving the placing of a suspect with a group of other people of similar physical characteristics so that a witness or victim of a crime can have the opportunity to identify the perpetrator of the crime.
Lineup
Police identification procedure similar to a lineup, except that photos of the suspect (who is not in custody) and others are shown to a witness or victim of a crime.
Photo Array