Which is the first police in the world?

Answer 1

In 1779, Bailies (magistrates) of the City of Glasgow appointed James Buchanan as Inspector and established a Police force of eight police officers. This force failed through lack of finance in 1781. In 1788 six Bailies proposed to establish a Police force and obtain an Act of Parliament to empower them to levy a rate from householders to finance the force.

The Bailies displayed vision and innovation in setting out their proposals insisting that the force would be run by a Watch Committee of elected citizens, known as Commissioners. The force would wear uniforms with numbered badges with 'Police' inscribed on them and each member would lodge £50 to guarantee their good conduct. The force of eight would provide twenty-four hour patrols (supplementing the Police Watchmen who were on static points throughout the night) to prevent crime and detect offenders.

The policemen they envisaged would not be mere watchmen and what they had written down was the concept of "Preventive Policing", 40 years before Sir Robert Peel established preventive policing in the Metropolitan area of London in 1829. In February 1789 this force of truly professional police took to the streets.

During the following eleven years, Glasgow City fathers tried to get their Police Bill before Parliament, but without success. In the meantime, the small, pioneering, Glasgow police force, lead by the Master of Police, Richard Marshall, was struggling to maintain its existence due to lack of the finance that the Bill would have provided. In 1790 the force failed and the City had again to rely on a City Guard of citizens. During the summer of 1800, the Glasgow Police Bill was debated in Parliament and on 30 June 1800, the Glasgow Police Act received Royal Assent.