The Police

[redcannon]

When did the concept of a Police system come about? Does it predate Capitalism? I know that there was law before capitalism, and those that upheld it, but were these police? Police under Capitalism were instated to uphold bourgeois interest, have they always been used as weapon-bearing pawns in society?

[xskater11x]

It depends on your definition of capitalism and when it had started, if you go with the 18th century British economic policy, police did exist before that, but other forms of capitalism predate that.

All in all, some sort of police system has always been around, back to Ancient Greece even. It would be hard to believe "police" were not always around, given the broad definition of what the police are (Police are agents or agencies empowered to effect public and social order through various means of coercion including the legitimate use of force. - Wikipedia), and that society has always needed to be managed.

[bezdomni]

Police defend the class in power. Under feudalism, they defended the interests of the feudal ruling class (although they weren't police in the modern sense...the spanish inquisition comes to mind).

Under capitalism, they defend the interests of the bourgeoisie.

Under socialism, they will defend the interests of the proletariat.

[Black Cross]

Police have been around since the beginning of a ruling class, they just haven't been called police.

[RedKnight]

As far as the modern police force is concerned, Sir Robert Peel created the first police force, under capitalism. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRpeel.htm Before this, military Gendarmerie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gendarmerie handled law enforcement. Also before police there were "thief-takers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thief-taker), and also Bounty hunters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounty_hunter), whom were paid to capture suspected criminals. In regards to the class analysis, Gendarmerie were gentry, while the bounty hunter/thief taker were lumpenproletariat.