Peelian principles
The Peelian principles summarise the ideas that Sir Robert Peel developed to define an ethical police force.
The approach expressed in these principles is commonly known as policing by consent in the United Kingdom and other countries such as Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.
People were suspicious of the idea of a large and possibly armed police force, and feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
[3] The 1819 Peterloo Massacre in St Peter's Field, Manchester occurred when at least eighteen died after 60,000 people who had gathered to stand up for universal suffrage (amongst other ideas) were overrun by multiple cavalry charges.
[5] London in the early 19th century had a population of nearly a million and a half people but was policed by only 450 constables and 4,500 night watchmen who belonged to many separate organisations.
[6] The concept of professional policing was taken up by Robert Peel when he became Home Secretary in 1822, emphasising a rigorous and less discretionary approach to law enforcement.
[7][8] The Peelian principles describe the philosophy that Sir Robert Peel developed to define an ethical police force.
[11][12] Although Peel discussed the spirit of some of these principles in his speeches and other communications, the historians Susan Lentz and Robert Chaires found no proof that he compiled a formal list.
[9] The Home Office has suggested that the instructions were probably written, not by Peel himself, but by Charles Rowan and Richard Mayne, the joint Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police when it was founded.
[24] American law-enforcement reformer William Bratton called them "my bible" in 2014,[25] but others commented in 2020 that the application of the principles in the US appears "increasingly theoretical".
[38] In response to the concerns, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Denis O'Connor, published a 150-page report in November 2009 that aimed to restore Britain's consent-based model of policing.
The UK is one of only 19 nations which have police forces that are routinely unarmed; these countries also have comparatively restrictive rules on civilian gun ownership.
[47] One study wrote that the "fact that officers operate largely unarmed is a key tenet and manifestation of [policing by consent].
