Police in Urban America, 1860 1920

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Focusing on the evolution of police forces in late nineteenth-century urban America, the book explores their initial role as agents of class control rather than effective crime fighters. It highlights how their uniformed presence inadvertently provided welfare services, which limited their capacity to combat crime. As modern social services emerged, the police shifted their focus to crime control, yet they struggled to excel in this functional specialty, revealing the complexities of their social role during this period.