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Michelle Hallmark Powell
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One thinks that police are a fairly new concept. But if we go to the Bible it talks about people being subject to a higher authority, such as magistrates, (Titus 3: 1-2) kings, (1 Peter 2:13-17) and heads of state (Romans 13:1-14). Now, we all know as Christians that Jesus Christ is the highest authority, but He was law abiding throughout His life.
As mankind cannot seem to police themselves the modern version of “police” is a necessity.
The definition of Police is:
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“The civil force of a national or local government, responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the maintenance of public order.”
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The first publicly funded police force with officers on duty full-time in the United States was created in Boston in 1838. Because Boston was a large shipping center, businesses had been hiring people to protect their property and safeguard the transport of their goods to other places. Prior to having police, it was up to the individual himself, to either protect himself, or hire others to do it. Anyone with any means who had to travel the roads ran the risk of highwaymen. They had household staff to provide protection or, for the very wealthy, they hired mercenaries—mostly former soldiers. As Capitalism grew in America, the necessity of having to protect your business, family, and person was one of the main reasons the police force was implemented.
Currently, all nations have some sort of government sponsored law enforcement, be it police or the military. Now, as then, the role of police is to protect society from predatory scoundrels. People need protection and that is why we empower police to form a barrier between “us” and “them.”
The Police: Our Only Defense Against Them and Mob Rule
So, what does “Mob Rule” actually mean. According to Wikipedia it is:
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“Control of a political situation outside of the conventional or lawful realm, typically involving violence and intimidation.”
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Now, let us look at what is going on in our blessed United States. There is a small contingency that want to abolish the police. The protesters, I call them anarchists, took over Seattle’s Capitol Hill district. The Mayor, Jenny Durkan, told the police to abandon the East Precinct and let the protesters have their area. The local government and supporters said it was something of a socialist summer camp. Movie nights under the stars, free food, love and peace, a huge block party—and no police.
With the police gone, the protesters took over. They erected barriers, spray painted buildings throughout the area, and untold numbers of thefts, rapes, and murders occurred. They renamed the area CHAZ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone). Later they renamed it CHOP (Capitol Hill Occupation Protest).
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It took the deaths of two teens and the mob showing up in Mayor Durkan’s neighborhood to dismantle the CHOP zone.
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Finally, after the violence turned to tragedy with a pair of teen deaths, Mayor Durkan authorized the police to tear down the barricades and remove the protestors. It must have dawned on Mayor Durkan that mob rule is worse than police protection after the mob stormed into her neighborhood and protested outside her mansion.
Any country of a significant size that lacked police would, fairly quickly, invent them or something very similar to them. The majority of people in the United States prefer order to disorder, and they want laws that protect them and their property. This requires someone who stands ready to enforce those laws and that, of course, means police of some sort.
So a country without police would be controlled by lynch mobs. We must keep our police because even the worst police in modern America show more respect for due process and the rights of the accused than a lynch mob would show. As evidenced by recent events, a lynch mob would not be constrained by the Constitution. Of course, you would be in a lot more trouble of being lynched if a rumor—true or not—got around that you did some bad misdeed. They would hang you and ask questions later.
We must support our local and state police in order to insure our country and personal freedoms are protected and Law and Order prevails. 
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