Polizeiwissenschaft was a discipline born in the first third of the 18th century which lasted until the middle of the 19th century.

Considered as the science of the internal order of the community, it was a comprehensive term, which included today's public law

Public law

Public law is a theory of law governing the relationship between individuals and the state. Under this theory, constitutional law, administrative law and criminal law are sub-divisions of public law...

, administrative science, the early political economy

Political economy

Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...

, public health

Public health

Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...

 concerns, urbanism

Urbanism

Broadly, urbanism is a focus on cities and urban areas, their geography, economies, politics, social characteristics, as well as the effects on, and caused by, the built environment.-Philosophy:...

 and urban planning

Urban planning

Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....

 (important in the light of the miasma theory of disease

Miasma theory of disease

The miasma theory held that diseases such as cholera, chlamydia or the Black Death were caused by a miasma , a noxious form of "bad air"....

), etc. It overlapped with the simultaneously-used term of Verwaltungswissenschaft (or "administrative science") and was a university course included in official trainings.

The first instruction chairs for "Cameralia Oeconomica and Polizeiwissenschaft" were created in 1727 by Frederick William I of Prussia

Frederick William I of Prussia

Frederick William I of the House of Hohenzollern, was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death...

 in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt

Halle, Saxony-Anhalt

Halle is the largest city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish it from the town of Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia...

 and Frankfurt

Frankfurt (Oder)

Frankfurt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s it reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants...

. Polizeiwissenschaft was quite distinct from today's use of the term "police

Police

The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

," which is strictly reserved for law enforcement activities. It included "Marktpolizei" ("market police"), concerned with the surveillance of prices and economical activity, "Gewerbeaufsicht" ("surveillance of trade"), "Bauaufsicht" ("construction supervision") and "Ausländerpolizei" ("Foreigners' police").

The term has recently been used in a sense more closely related to contemporary police activities, used both as a comprehensive term as a synonym of "police science

Police science

Police science is often an ambiguous term that denotes the studies and research which directly or indirectly deal with police work. Studies and research in criminology, forensic science, psychology, jurisprudence, community policing, criminal justice, correctional administration and penology all...

s" (including jurisprudence

Jurisprudence

Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...

, criminology

Criminology

Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society...

, sociology

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

, psychology

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

, political science

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

, forensics

Forensics

Forensic science is the application of a broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions of interest to a legal system. This may be in relation to a crime or a civil action...

, etc.).