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>>I would never suggest that our society should not have police to enforce the rule of law.<<

Why not? In much of the Western USA the police agencies are mostly around to write reports and serve warrants...much the same as their professional ancestors (the ‘Shire Reeves’) of England. It falls to the citizens to protect themselves and it often falls to the citizens to enforce the law.

Point of fact: Many Midwest and Western counties use non-professional volunteer and part-time citizen deputies for law enforcement. Up until the advent of the professional police about 175 years ago the world did just fine without them.

Given that today you are more likely to be WRONGFULLY killed by a police officer than by a law abiding citizen then there’s an argument that our streets would be safer without squads of machine-gun toting, tank driving, grenade throwing, puppy killing, black-clad gangsters roving them and invading people’s homes without warrants.

Posse Comitatus was supposed to keep the military off of our streets and anymore the police ARE a military and what’s worse is where they investigate their own abuses they are truly unaccountable to anyone for their crimes.

Get rid of the police departments but keep the elected sheriffs who are at least held accountable to the people when they stand to election and re-election.

Hello Megan, You make good points regarding the abuses by police and the militarization of the civilian police force. I will discuss the police more in upcoming posts.

I believe in a local civilian police force with Constitutionally limited enforcement capabilities which includes things like volunteer deputies. I was speaking in absolute terms about having no police force at all as in no sheriffs or deputies.

I would also agree that we need civilian oversight of internal investigations of the police.

You make a number of good points. In an ideal world we could do as they used to do in England with the 'Bobbies'... just have an officer or constable carrying a bonking stick. Modern circumstances have changed all that; even in England they have to have armed officers ready at a moment's notice [witness the killing of that soldier by Muslim extremists recently.]

The evolution of urban police into a paramilitary force is disturbing. To watch the Boston cops shut down a whole city is not only alarming, it portends more martial law episodes at the drop of a hat. A few years ago we had a standoff near our house here in west Orlando and the police shut off the whole boulevard for a whole day - a major traffic feeder to the interstate and the I-Drive - Disney attractions. I am not necessarily opposed, but it gives one pause.

Our local sheriff has APC's, fully automatic weapons, helicopters, drones, etc. Our traffic is like the wild west because they have no time or money for traffic enforcement; red light-running is rampant, and people do not even slow down for stopped school buses or school zones. The police priorities have moved on elsewhere.

Around here we discussed a scandalous murder from the 70's for twenty years; now we cannot even remember who killed who a week ago. The police are faced with a growing challenge and threat... yet we cannot set aside our Constitution and our comfort for the convenience of law enforcement. Perhaps active civilian review boards are essential, with subpoena power and power for criminal referrals.

Perilous times... Hi, gonzo!!!