One should note how ancient the idea of policing is to give some perspective on its history. Archeological evidence shows that Mesopotamia and Egypt as far back as the 1500 B.C. had already established numerous police forces. Not much is known about them except they were supposedly efficient and effective in controlling crime. Also by 27 B.C. the Roman Emperor Augustus assigned armed officers with power to maintain public order in the urban areas. Thirty two years later at the year 6 A.D. Rome had established a police force that would patrol their streets 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. These early police forces were known to have mistreated their prisoners very inadequately, and to have tortured suspected criminals to the extreme to get confessions. Their tolerance for crime was very low and their punishment was severe. Their structure for dealing with criminals were simple but yet affective. Criminals at that time did not have many rights, if any. Unlike the former, the United States of America has one of the most complicated and complex police organizations in the world. The structure of the United States policing organizations was largely influenced and derived from the British form of policing. It was not always as complex as it is now. The start of American policing was fairly simple back when the colonizers first came from England. It modeled it self after the English style of policing and eventually progressed to what it is now. .
At 1066 King William of England created the constables and the night watch system. They were a police structure based in the local community. Every local community had constables and night watch men. In 1829 the English's style of policing was brought to the American Colonies where it lasted up until the 1850s. The constables were police officers that worked for the court. They were early police officers that were paid for handing out warrants, summonses, arresting suspected criminals, and as well as helping citizens prosecute defending criminals.