Replies

It may be time to reconsider how society should be policed. Uniformed police forces were first organized in the large Northeastern cities in the mid-19th Century as a response to rapid growth and the inability of part-time constables and night watch to preserve public order. Until about a century ago, with the exception of the large cities, law enforcement in most of America was the province of the sheriff, an elected official, and constables, also elected officials. There were no state or county police forces and Federal law enforcement was restricted to the U.S. Marshalls, who are officers of the Federal courts. There was no FBI, DEA, ATF, etc.

The older Anglo-American common law made all male citizens subject to duty as deputies upon the call of a sheriff or constable. This concept, shown in Western movies as a sheriff's posse, parallels the mandatory duty of all male citizens to serve in the militia. As communities like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia grew into major cities, sheriffs stopped relying on posses and started using men paid on a part-time basis as watchmen and deputies. These watchmen and deputies were later transformed into full time, professional forces, on the model of London's Metropolitan Police.

However, the urban police forces have had long and sad histories of corruption many decades before modern liberalism became the dominant ideology in most American cities. Since police pay was notoriously low, the temptation to secure income by cooperating with bootleggers, pimps, gambling house owners, and drug dealers was very strong. From the 1890s to the 1970s, the New York Police Department went through several widespread revelations of scandals that implicated hundreds of policemen of all ranks. Planting throwdown guns or narcotics on suspected criminals is not a new tactic, and police stations before 1960 were notorious for the "third degree" (torture) imposed on suspects.

The use of police as enforcers of "nanny state" regulations, such as seat belts and helmets for motorcyclists, is a development of the last 50 years. While the laws dealing with the so-called victimless crimes (except narcotics) have become milder and (in the case of pornography) virtual dead letters, government regulation of other personal behaviors, such as tobacco, racial prejudice, gun ownership, etc., has drastically increased. In the case of traffic laws, fines are financially lucrative, and with the proliferation of regulations, local police forces have ever increasing opportunities to pay for their operations.

Additionally, lowered moral and educational standards have had their effects on all of society, including LEOs. In the America that existed before 1960, adherence to Judeo-Christian morality was the norm and, while that Biblically based code was often violated even then, immoral behavior was frowned upon by society in general. Public schools for the most part taught the three Rs and American history, including the Constitution. Good manners were the norm and were taught in the home. Most officers were generally well mannered 20-30 years ago unless the citizen was obnoxious or belligerent. That is not the case today with most LEOs.

Can a modern society function without a uniformed police force? As bad as the current system is, it is probably better than having the Crips, the Bloods, and various other gangs controlling the streets of major cities. However, the abuses by police and the politicians who command them are a major problem that festers, irrespective of which major party controls the city halls, court houses, or state capitals.