I love how the original idea for police was “Wow, we should really have some form of enforcing the law that isn’t dependent on local prejudices or just government men trained only to shoot people”, and now it’s… well…
Whose original idea for police? Sounds like maybe you’re alluding to Robert Peel. But as far as I know, the intellectual heritage of American police is more of an extension of runaway slave patrols.
Peel. I could get into a broader argument about the institutional origins of American police, but I think it suffices to say that American police were, at least in terms of becoming formalized structures, influenced by British (and French) policing ideals of the early-mid-19th century.
In that sense, they’ve certainly not lived up to the purported ideals.
I love how the original idea for police was “Wow, we should really have some form of enforcing the law that isn’t dependent on local prejudices or just government men trained only to shoot people”, and now it’s… well…
Whose original idea for police? Sounds like maybe you’re alluding to Robert Peel. But as far as I know, the intellectual heritage of American police is more of an extension of runaway slave patrols.
Peel. I could get into a broader argument about the institutional origins of American police, but I think it suffices to say that American police were, at least in terms of becoming formalized structures, influenced by British (and French) policing ideals of the early-mid-19th century.
In that sense, they’ve certainly not lived up to the purported ideals.
the original idea was to make the KKK be on the state payroll