An Examination of the Role and Impact of Police in America

This essay explores the integral role of police in American society, emphasizing their crucial function in law enforcement, crime control, and the maintenance of social stability. It highlights the potential consequences of a society without police, such as increased crime rates and a breakdown of social order. The essay acknowledges arguments against policing, such as the potential for exploitation and oppression, while also recognizing the necessity of law enforcement in a non-utopian society. It discusses the role of police in mediating issues and ensuring a structured legal system. The essay concludes that while improvements in the police system are always needed, their complete elimination is not a viable option for maintaining peace and controlling criminal activities in society.

Running head: POLICE IN AMERICA
Police in America
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There is no gain stating the obvious fact that the police forms an integral aspect of the
legal system of a society, and the police officers play an integral role in the enforcement of laws
and regulations in the society. In a society otherwise infested with crimes, violence and terrorist
attacks, the police can only enforce laws, bring control and ensure social stability to the largest
possible extent. The police officers, right from monitoring criminal activity and taking part in the
community patrols, investigate criminal cases, punish the criminals and bring justice to the
society. Hence, it is very difficult to imagine a safe and secure society without the intervention of
the police officers.
A few people have claimed that the negative impact of policing far outweighs its
benefits, and hence it might be useful to see what would a society look like without the police
administration. The first major change the society would notice is the uncontrolled rate of social
crimes being perpetrated every hour. It is undeniable that often once a person is killed or a
terrorist bomb blast has already occurred, the dead people cannot be resuscitated to life, nor can
the police help the injured ones heal faster than they normally would. However, nobody would
be accountable for any harm being done, any loss or damage being caused by one’s action. This
would increase the frequency of the criminal rates, and this will eventually lead to unrestrained
crime rates including robbery, theft, terrorist attacks and murder. One would go on perpetrating
sexual assault, molestation and even murder, without facing any consequence, and thus the
society would fail to prevent the possibility of any harm in future as well. It would be interesting
to state in this connection that there are many people such as Van Fossen, who have dismissed
the importance of police stating that most of the problems and conflicts can easily be resolved
with the help of mediation, negotiation and reconciliation (Brewer et al., 2016). Hence, in
absence of the police authorities, minor social crimes such as theft and minor domestic violence

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will be settled through mutual discussion and with considerable success as well. However, there
will be people who would commit even greater crimes of serious consequences, they might think
killing, raping maiming people, and no round of discussion or mediation can prove to be
effective in sorting out the crimes of such grave consequences. Maybe most of the people in a
given society would escape confronting the possibility of getting murdered, not every second
woman would be assaulted or raped, not every individual would commit domestic violence on
his or her spouse. However, there would be some, and without the police intervention, life for
them would be short, brutish and nasty.
Again, it is believed that the police system as representatives of the state they work for,
carry out nothing but exploitation and oppression with prison and enslavement, in the name of
justice (Crystal, 2017) . In such a situation, the society without police would not employ the use
of aggressive justice system, and would rather replace the same with restorative or
transformative justice. Thus, there would be problems in the society, but the way it would be
solved would be different. In a society without the police intervention, the victims and the
offenders would be asked to mediate a restitution agreement to the satisfaction of each, and
would also ask for active involvement of the community (Tugend, 2017). However, no prisoner
would be locked up in cages, nor would be beaten up or would be sentenced to death. The legal
administration would be more liberal, that would increase the crime rates by leaps and bounds.
Chaos and anarchy would ensue as soon as police system is being eliminated from the society.
Violence, murder, robbery, human trafficking and rape would increase at a high rate, and the
weaker ones would fail to defend themselves and life would be insecure without the police. The
criminals would get an opportunity to do anything to transgress the law, as they would know that
nobody can detain, imprison or even arrest them, and corrupt and more powerful sections of the

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society would use their money to get rid of the charges of offense. The police men act as the
expedient mediators in the society, and the police do not merely enforce the laws, but more
importantly, it helps in smoothing out issues, keeping the society more structured and legally
organized (Stringham, 2017). Without the police, the crime rates would definitely increase, but
even if administrative law at a macro level can be ensured by introducing a military form of
administration, there still would be chaos and conflict with no one coming to solve the problems
of loud parties and traffic jam.
In a Utopian society, everything would be perfect and there would be no need of police as
there would be no report of violence and abuse. However, this society is not a Utopian, and
hence police would be required. If the police officers are asking for bribes, anti-corruption laws
should be re-framed and made more rigid, or if any police officer is misusing his power, he
should be replaced by a man wearing a similar badge. However, the police system cannot be
eliminated, as it helps in bringing law and order, and ensuring peace and stability in the society
that helps in controlling criminal activities, if not completely eliminating them.

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Reference List:
Brewer, J. D., Wilford, R., Guelke, A., Hume, I., & Moxon-Browne, E. (2016). The police,
public order and the state: policing in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Irish
Republic, the USA, Israel, South Africa and China. Springer.
Crystal, J. (2017). Opinion | When Police Are Poor Role Models for One Another. Nytimes.com.
Retrieved 3 November 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/opinion/when-
police-are-poor-role-models-for-one-another.html
Stringham, E. (2017). Is America Facing a Police Crisis?. WSJ. Retrieved 3 November 2017,
from https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-america-facing-a-police-crisis-1469828089
Tugend, A. (2017). Defining the Role of the Police in the Community. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 3
November 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/defining-the-role-of-the-
police-in-the-community.html