the earliest police in england worked only at night and were known as
Night Watch
title: Police text: Winchester of 1285 is also cited as the primary legislation regulating the policing of the country between the Norman Conquest and the Metropolitan Police Act 1829. From about 1500, private watchmen were funded by private individuals and organisations to carry out police functions. They were later nicknamed 'Charlies', probably after the reigning monarch King Charles II. Thief-takers were also rewarded for catching thieves and returning the stolen property. The first use of the word police ("Polles") in English comes from the book "The Second Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England" published in 1642. The first centrally organised title: History of law enforcement in the United Kingdom text: had its roots in an Act of the Parliament of England of 1673. From the 1730s, local improvement Acts made by town authorities often included provision for paid watchmen or constables to patrol towns at night, while rural areas had to rely on more informal arrangements. In 1737, an Act of Parliament was passed "for better regulating the Night Watch" of the City of London which specified the number of paid constables that should be on duty each night. Henry Fielding established the Bow Street Runners in 1749; between 1754 and 1780, Sir John Fielding reorganised Bow Street like a title: History of criminal justice text: French cities, known as "sergents de ville" ("city sergeants"), which the Paris Prefecture of Police's website claims were the first uniformed policemen in the world. In London, there existed watchmen hired to guard the streets at night since 1663. Watchmen were the first paid law enforcement in the country, augmenting the force of unpaid constables, but were not professionally organized. The word "police" was borrowed from French into the English language in the 18th century, but for a long time it applied only to French and continental European police forces. The word, and the concept of police itself, was "disliked title: History of law enforcement in the United Kingdom text: part of the UK.) In November 1830 the Liverpool and Manchester Railway set up their own police establishment under legislation going back to 1673. They were to preserve law and order on the construction site and to control movement of railway traffic – by hand signals. This practice spread with the development of railways, and small shelters were erected at these stations, becoming known as police stations. Where there was no police control they were just known as stations. To this day signalmen are known as ‘bobbies’. Sir Robert Peel, appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1812, found local magistrates title: Law enforcement in the United Kingdom text: policing was organised by local communities based on watchmen and constables; the government was not directly involved in policing. The City of Glasgow Police, the first professional police, was established following an Act of Parliament in 1800. London had a population of nearly a million and a half people in the early 19th century but was policed by only 450 constables and 4,500 night watchmen. The concept of professional policing was taken up by Sir Robert Peel when he became Home Secretary in 1822. Peel's Metropolitan Police Act 1829 established a full-time, professional and centrally-organised police force for the greater