I grew up thinking the job of the police was to protect and serve.
You might have been encouraged to believe in a bit of a myth. Law enforcement's job is to enforce the law (once a violation has been committed), with the corollary effect of serving and protecting the general population, not specifically you as an individual, IIRC. Part of their function is to protect society from you or me, is it not? When did you get your last speeding ticket?
FRiend, let me first say that my original comment was in no way anything other than a poke at your use use of the word “retribution” in describing police responsibilities.
I used a dictionary definition of “retribution” and none of the synonyms, IMO, define the role of government/police.
I think your usage of the word is intended to mean the carrying out of their duties, which is fine. But I now have two questions to ask.
1) Are you saying that only police have the right to apprehend a criminal? What is citizens arrest? If a home intruder is told at gunpoint by the owner to lie down on the floor with his hands and feet spread until police arrive, and the perp complies, is the home owner now acting outside of the law? Can a citizen no longer act to stop a crime if he sees one? Ok, that was more than one question but you get the point.
2) Where do you think the authority for police to do more than a citizen is derived from? For me, thanswer comes from here:
Romans 13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for she is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
I am not a Biblical expert, but verse 3 and 4 tell me two things. 1) that I should not have to fear authority if I am doing good, and 2) that that authority is God’s servant.
When the ruler becomes the terror, then he is no longer a servant of God. But now I am digressing toward a peeve of mine...
Fregards,