The first American police departments were established in the 1850’s. By 1892, New Yorkers were already calling for police reform and in 1894, the Lexow Committee was formed to investigate police corruption. Theodore Roosevelt was appointed police commissioner in New York in 1895 expressly to reform the NYPD.

Though Progressive-era reformers achieved some success, a string of commissions and committees through the years have called for additional police reform, including the Wickersham Commission, NYPD corruption investigations, the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement, and the President’s Commission on 21st Century Policing.

This course will examine the history of American police reform efforts through policing’s political, reform and community policing eras. We will examine the character of American policing, the need for reform, attempted reforms, the fierce resistance reformers have encountered and the reasons why police reform is still needed in America today.