I think this requires us to look into what the definition of that word is, as a verb.
To “police” is to dominate and enforce conformity, often with the threat of overwhelming consequence. A lot of people don’t realize that the origin of the modern police department was crowd control. They were invented in cities in the early twentieth century to suppress riots and protests. The day-to-day patrol work is just an extension of that core mandate.
I think that if you trained folks up the way we do for volunteer fire brigades that’d be a lot more like working as an EMT than a soldier. Sometimes you might have to lay some hands. But, imo that is not policing if you only respond when someone calls for help as opposed to showing up uninvited to enforce the state’s prerogatives.
Showing up to assist and protect someone who is crying out for help isn’t actually “policing”, imo. That’s rendering aid. You aren’t acting to disincentivize non-compliance with state directives. So I would not consider such a group to qualify as police, semantically.
I think this requires us to look into what the definition of that word is, as a verb.
To “police” is to dominate and enforce conformity, often with the threat of overwhelming consequence. A lot of people don’t realize that the origin of the modern police department was crowd control. They were invented in cities in the early twentieth century to suppress riots and protests. The day-to-day patrol work is just an extension of that core mandate.
I think that if you trained folks up the way we do for volunteer fire brigades that’d be a lot more like working as an EMT than a soldier. Sometimes you might have to lay some hands. But, imo that is not policing if you only respond when someone calls for help as opposed to showing up uninvited to enforce the state’s prerogatives.
Showing up to assist and protect someone who is crying out for help isn’t actually “policing”, imo. That’s rendering aid. You aren’t acting to disincentivize non-compliance with state directives. So I would not consider such a group to qualify as police, semantically.