What would the point of police be?

[Goatpie]

I understand that capitalism needs the police as in if someone buys your land there would be nothing to really make you leave.
And that most crimes are due to economic reasons (Robbing,attacks on the well off ect...)

But in a communist society there would be no need to defend private property and the only thing i could see the police do is to oppress the oppisition?
But then again Im sure there will always be people who just like to cause trouble.

So what would happen would the police eventually break down and disband or would it just decrease in size?
Or would it disband completely and more like a community watch type thing would rise?

Thank's

[ExUnoDisceOmnes]

Armed bodies would generally be disbanded, but many believe that a smaller, volunteer police force of sorts would be useful for preventing acts such as rape, murder, etc.

[Goatpie]

Yeah i guess even with education and a liveable life there will still be these things. Would they still be financed by the government?

[Sensible Socialist]

Instead of unelected and unaccountable police forces, locally based community organizations dedicated to the preservation of individual "freedoms" would serve the role that a law enforcement agency does today. These people would be accountable to all in the community, although there role would be limited (with many of the motives for crime out of the equation).

There would still be highly trained professionals in the foresic sciences to catch criminals after the fact. However, they as well would be subject to stricter review, to prevent tampering of evidence.

[DaComm]

I think theres too much a belief about that Anarchy cannot have figures of authority because of "opression"- if the opposition is crime against individuals, which will most definately exist (it's unrealistic to claim that crime will simply dissepate), it is necessary. Volunteer police forces as proposed above seem to be the most appropriate option.

[Tim Finnegan]

I understand that capitalism needs the police as in if someone buys your land there would be nothing to really make you leave.
And that most crimes are due to economic reasons (Robbing,attacks on the well off ect...)

But in a communist society there would be no need to defend private property and the only thing i could see the police do is to oppress the oppisition?
Perhaps just a quibble, but why do you think that the community would need to defend property under communism? Just because it wouldn't be defending private property doesn't mean it wouldn't need to defend against the misappropriation or damage of communal property.

[Goatpie]

So police would pretty much become voluntary peace keepers and not Law enforcers? I could dig that.




Perhaps just a quibble, but why do you think that the community would need to defend property under communism? Just because it wouldn't be defending private property doesn't mean it wouldn't need to defend against the misappropriation or damage of communal property.

Obviously some damage would be done to property but most damage done is when there is inequality. Like i understand that people could have arguments that escalate into damage of their home or work place. But i mean on like a bigger scale for example if you cant afford your home anymore and the bank or your homeowner attempts to kick you out they wouldn't get very far unless that had their own people for this job or a law and people to enforce tat law.

[Dimmu]

I think theres too much a belief about that Anarchy cannot have figures of authority because of "opression"- if the opposition is crime against individuals, which will most definately exist (it's unrealistic to claim that crime will simply dissepate), it is necessary. Volunteer police forces as proposed above seem to be the most appropriate option.

I agree.. Having a group of people who work to preserve basic freedom and security is neccesary.

This group of volunteers would of course be different from what we call police. This group of people would work under close watch of the community and it will be governened from the bottom-up.

This is a different approach from modern police where police forces act as personal army of the capitalists.