Police and Communities

Few institutions are more important to an urban community than its police,

yet there are few subjects historians         know so little about. Most of the

early academic interests developed among political scientists and

sociologists,        who usually examined their own contemporary problems with

only a nod toward the past. Even the public seemed   concerned only during

crime waves, periods of blatant corruption, or after a particularly grisly

episode. Party      regulars and reformers generally viewed the  institution

from a  political perspective; newspapers and magazines - the nineteenth

century's media - emphasized the vivid and spectacular.

Yet urban society has always vested a wide, indeed awesome, responsibility

in its police. Not only were they to  maintain order, prevent crime, and

protect life and property, but historically they were also to fight fires,   

suppress vice, assist in health services, supervise elections, direct

traffic, inspect buildings, and locate          truants and runaways. In addition,

it was assumed that the police were the special guardians of the citizens'        

liberties and the community's tranquillity. Of course, the performance

never matched expectations. The record   contains some success,  but mostly

failure; some effective leadership, but largely official  incompetence and      

betrayal.  The notion of a professional police force in America is a

creation of the twentieth century; not until our own time have cities begun

to take the steps necessary to produce modern departments.

警察與社區(qū)

對(duì)城市社區(qū)來說，很少有比它的警察更為重要的機(jī)構(gòu)了，但少有課題像歷史 學(xué)家們對(duì)此了解得那樣少。

早期的學(xué)術(shù)興趣是在政治科學(xué)家和社會(huì)學(xué)家中發(fā)展起來的，他 們一般只研究他們自己當(dāng)代的問題而對(duì)過去的問題只是偶爾帶過。  甚至公眾似乎也僅僅在

犯罪浪潮、明目張膽的貪污或特別的恐怖事件發(fā)生時(shí)才關(guān)心。  政黨的忠誠支持者和改革家 們通常是從政治的前途來看待警察這個(gè)機(jī)構(gòu)；而報(bào)紙和雜志-19

世紀(jì)的傳播媒介-則著重活潑 生動(dòng)和驚人的事件。可是城市社會(huì)總是把廣泛得可怕的責(zé)任交給警察。他們不僅維持秩序、

防止犯罪、保護(hù)生命財(cái)產(chǎn)，而且在過去還要救火、鎮(zhèn)壓罪惡、協(xié)助醫(yī)療服務(wù)、監(jiān)督選舉、指 揮交通、檢查建筑物、尋找逃學(xué)學(xué)生和搜捕逃犯。

除此以外，警察還被認(rèn)為是公民自由和

社會(huì)穩(wěn)定的特別保護(hù)者。  自然，警察的表現(xiàn)并不盡如人意。  他們的記錄中有成功者，但多 數(shù)是失敗的；有高效率的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，但多半的人在職務(wù)上無能和不講信用。

 專業(yè)警察部隊(duì)的概 念在美國還是 20 世紀(jì)的產(chǎn)物；直到我們這個(gè)時(shí)代，一些城市才開始采取設(shè)立現(xiàn)代化部門的 必要步驟。

譯路通武漢漢口翻譯公司整理

2012.6.20