Policing

The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder.

Their lawful powers include arrest and the use of force legitimized by the state via the monopoly of violence.

The term is most commonly associated with the police forces of a sovereign state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or a territorial area of responsibility. Police forces are often defined as being separate from the military and other organizations involved in the defense of the state against foreign aggressors; however, gendarmerie are military units charged with civil policing.

Police forces are usually public sector services, funded through taxes.

Law enforcement is only part of policing activity. Policing has included an array of activities in different situations, but the predominant ones are concerned with the preservation of order. In some societies, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, these developed within the context of maintaining the class system and the protection of private property. Police forces have become ubiquitous in modern societies. Nevertheless, their role can be controversial, as some are involved to varying degrees in corruption, police brutality and the enforcement of authoritarian rule.

A police force may also be referred to as a police department, police service, constabulary, gendarmerie, crime prevention, protective services, law enforcement agency, guard or civic guard. Members may be referred to as police officers, troopers, sheriffs, constables, rangers, peace officers or civic/civil guards. Ireland differs from other English-speaking countries by using the Irish language terms Garda (singular) and Gardaí (plural), for both the national police force and its members. The word “police” is the most universal and similar terms can be seen in many non-English speaking countries.

Numerous slang terms exist for the police. Many slang terms for police officers are decades or centuries old with lost etymology. One of the oldest, “cop”, has largely lost its slang connotations and become a common colloquial term used both by the public and police officers to refer to their profession.

In British North America, local elected officials initially provided policing. For instance, the New York Sheriff’s Office was founded in 1626, and the Albany County Sheriff’s Department in the 1660s. In the colonial period, elected sheriffs and local militias provided policing.

In the 1700s, the Province of Carolina (later North and South Carolina) established slave patrols in order to prevent slave rebellions and enslaved people from escaping. For example, by 1785 the Charleston Guard and Watch had “a distinct chain of command, uniforms, sole responsibility for policing, salary, authorized use of force, and a focus on preventing ‘crime’.”

In 1789 the United States Marshals Service was established, followed by other federal services such as the U.S. Parks Police (1791) and U.S. Mint Police (1792). The first city police services were established in Philadelphia in 1751, Richmond, Virginia in 1807, Boston in 1838, and New York in 1845. The U.S. Secret Service was founded in 1865 and was for some time the main investigative body for the federal government.

In the American Old West local sheriffs, rangers, constables, and federal marshals carried out law enforcement. There were also town marshals responsible for serving civil and criminal warrants, maintaining the jails, and carrying out arrests for petty crime.

In recent years, in addition to federal, state, and local forces, some special districts have been formed to provide extra police protection in designated areas. These districts may be known as neighborhood improvement districts, crime prevention districts, or security districts.

When growing up, a police officer was immediately recognizable. The uniform was brown with light brown pants. It was like the junior army but with only a shield instead of medals. The police always stood out because they wore a uniform.

I recall they would direct traffic after a wreck or ride around downtown on horses handing out parking tickets. The only protests were the Negros at the lunch counters that was still illegal at that time.

Maybe once a year a police officer would come to the school and talk about obeying the law. We were all propagandized by the message (just like the allegiance to the flag every morning, the doxology every Sunday and saying your prayers before you ate or went to bed). Most of the kids I grew up with would wait at the crosswalk for the light. Any mischief like stealing a jawbreaker from the Five & Dime was handled by the parents rather than calling in the long arm of the law.

The police cars changed from the old 40’s clunkers to the modern sleek cruisers. I’m sure the car dealers had battles out biding every year to get the new black and white fleet. One year all the cars were Ford’s and the next year they would all be Chevrolet’s. Motorcycles came and went and the paddy wagon was a rarity to see. The police station was downtown, the courts were downtown, the city jail was downtown and even the state penitentiary was downtown.

As the residents expanded into the counties, so did the police making new precincts. The police even changed their uniforms to a dark blue/black like all the other cops on television.

The police band radio could tell you where the hot spots were or you could just listen to the sirens chasing speeders or congregating at a crime scene.

I’ve had some experiences with the thin blue line. Though I’m sure I could have out run them, I’d always pull over for the red flashing lights and was always polite (to anyone wearing a sidearm).

Not that handing out parking tickets or directing traffic is too difficult, but to “Serve and Protect” means dealing with people, and people are the problem.

I look at the call log to see what types of problems the police deal with these days. There are still auto collisions, break-in alarms, disorderly conduct, public nuisance, suspicious person and loud music to name a few. There is hardly time to get a doughnut.

Every television network had at least one police show and we all learned from what we saw. Everything from cowboys to comic partners in a cruiser on patrol or young undercover cops changed each year with fresh-faced actors reading scripts from the community conscience. Stories from the headlines, softened for the sponsors, the cop shows presented the ‘Good Guy gets the Bad Guy’ prophesy and everyone went home at the end of the day.

There were no handling a belligerent drunk driver or screaming family and neighbors as a person who skipped bail is taken back to jail or wearing armor to protect against bricks and bottles.

Through the years having watched the ’68 Democratic Convention, the Rodney King incident and the reoccurring riots from LA to Baltimore to now my hometown, I’ve seen many slow moving marathons making speeches and chants until night falls.

Masses of community may move the hearts and minds of others, the long walks doesn’t change any laws. Some will take it another level to collect money and run for an office to persuade others to pass a bill for your agenda.

Another group might not like the results?

The police stay on the sidelines, taking the verbal abuse with more patience than most of us could tolerate. The next day they get up and do it all over again, not knowing what that person who just got pulled over, thinks about the uniform.

Have no idea where all of this is going.

Stay tuned.