The Broad Street Riots in the United States

Prior to the establishment of police departments, law and order in the united states was primarily a for profit endeavor. Enforcement of the law was done by members of the community who tended to rotate through shifts keeping order in their own towns. Public spirit is generally the term used is what was, like, the primary method of social control in those days rather than centralized authority. The system began fade out as industrial age dawned with communities that had been more or less isolated turned into sprawling urban areas.