You’re certainly not wrong with that interpretation.
Policing is a murky concept in general. They themselves aren’t even clear on who and how they serve.
In general, police should enforce laws that we ‘as a society’ deem important. But we’ve insulated ourselves from that by several layers. We elect politicians who make laws and appoint people who appoint others who appoint others who do the actual policing. What should be a community service and community responsibility is now effectively its own separate branch.
Basically, the police exist because… they exist, and it’s a system that perpetuates itself. It’s not like with firefighters or garbage men who have clear responsibilities and directly help their actual communities.
In an ideal society, a community would appoint their own police officers from within their own community to enforce (or not) their own set of community laws. But since we’ve effectively deferred that responsibility to higher political offices, that’s pretty much impossible. It’s also why the public and police are at odds with each other: the public rightly feels that officers tend to be separate from their community, rather than a part of it.
You’re certainly not wrong with that interpretation.
Policing is a murky concept in general. They themselves aren’t even clear on who and how they serve.
In general, police should enforce laws that we ‘as a society’ deem important. But we’ve insulated ourselves from that by several layers. We elect politicians who make laws and appoint people who appoint others who appoint others who do the actual policing. What should be a community service and community responsibility is now effectively its own separate branch.
Basically, the police exist because… they exist, and it’s a system that perpetuates itself. It’s not like with firefighters or garbage men who have clear responsibilities and directly help their actual communities.
In an ideal society, a community would appoint their own police officers from within their own community to enforce (or not) their own set of community laws. But since we’ve effectively deferred that responsibility to higher political offices, that’s pretty much impossible. It’s also why the public and police are at odds with each other: the public rightly feels that officers tend to be separate from their community, rather than a part of it.