one of the better comment I heard about cops is that cops used to be seen as PEACE KEEPERS but nowadays they are seen as LAW ENFORCEMENT . I thought that that was a good observation .
A peace keeper (or peace maker) forces people into orderly behavior. Law enforcement brings people before the courts for a court to decide guilt or innocent and an appropriate punishment.
While a peace keeper might sound like a desirable goal, law enforcement is much more descriptive of the job they do.
----------------------------- and I don't like it . I had an old retired Sheriff tell me one day as we were talking that he and his older generation of cops were nothing like the new generation of cops and I agree in my mind and thinking with his comment Fnneco .
An older generation of cops had more opportunity to abuse their positions and less accountability to the public.
I'm very comfortable with a police force that act as officers of the court as opposed to self-appointed judges.
Modern policing was established under the nine principles set down by Sir Robert Peel in 1829. I believe those principles are as relevant today as they were then.
PRINCIPLE 1 “The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.”
PRINCIPLE 2 “The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions.”
PRINCIPLE 3 “Police must secure the willing cooperation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.”
PRINCIPLE 4 “The degree of cooperation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.”
PRINCIPLE 5 “Police seek and preserve public favor not by catering to the public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.”
PRINCIPLE 6 “Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient.”
PRINCIPLE 7 “Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.”
PRINCIPLE 8 “Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.”
PRINCIPLE 9 “The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.”