The Eras of American Policing and Their OriginAmerican policing arose from early English law and was deeply influenced by its history. Early law enforcement in England adopted two forms of policing, one of which strongly influenced modern policing and is known as surveillance (Potter, 2013). The guard was initially made up of volunteers who were expected to patrol the streets to detect any type of disorder, including crime and fires. After men attempted to opt out of volunteering by paying others, it became a paid professional position (Walker and Katz, 2012). All three eras of policing in America are shaped by these early ideas and practices of law enforcement. Over time, sufficient improvements and progress have been made from the political era to the professional era and finally the community era which attempts to eliminate corruption, hire qualified officers and create a effective overall law enforcement system. America's first police department developed in New Zealand. York and marked the beginning of the first era of policing, which spanned from the 1830s to 1900 and is known as the Political Era (Walker and Katz, 2012). As Walker (1999) points out, not only was the political era of policing focused on politics, but it provided police officers with few or no training, education, or recruiting standards (as cited in Police : History, 2014). The era also imposed precarious job security on law enforcement and officers could be fired and hired at any time with little or no reason. Even men with criminal records carried out foot patrols and women were seen only as prison “matrons”; they did not carry weapons and often had very little discretion in arrest (Walker and Katz, 2012). According to Walker and Katz (2012), "a $300 payment to the Tammany Hall police...... middle of paper ......l HistoryNetwork. Retrieved May 10, 2014, from http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:TwoWay_Police_Radio_Communication,_1933Police: History - Policing in 19th Century America.” (nd). "the Political Era. Retrieved May 9, 2014, from http://law.jrank.org/pages/1642/Police-History-Policing-nineteenth-century America-Political-era.htmlPotter, G. (June 25, 2013). The History of Policing in the United States, Part 1. Online Policing Degrees Retrieved May 9, 2014, from http://plsonline.eku.edu/insidelook/history-policing-united-states -part-1Ruffinengo, M. (February 2014). Chapter 2: The History of American Criminal Justice102. Lecture given at Boise State University, Boise, ID. edition (ed.). New York: Humanities and Social Sciences;..