Sent out by James Hess on Hayek-L, this article by Kristian Williams in the December 2003 issue of the Monthly Review is a fascinating re-reading of the history of the rise of local police: “Despite its initial plausibility, the idea that the police were invented in response to an epidemic of crime is, to be blunt, exactly wrong. Furthermore, it is not much of an explanation. It assumes that when crime reaches a certain level, the natural social response is to create a uniformed police force. This, of course, is not an explanation but an assertion of a natural law for which there is little evidence.” The piece concludes: “The police provided a mechanism by which the power of the state, and eventually that of the emerging ruling class, could be brought to bear on the lives and habits of individual members of society.” Most fascinating is to discover just how modern (1830s) and statist is the idea of a professional class of police.
