The True Role of Police

While searching the myriad headlines available on the internet today, I came across an amazing editorial from The Guardian in the United Kingdom. The article discusses recent events of over-policing and the thuggish tactics the met use throughout the nation. It points out that the populace are becoming impatient and fed up with the double standards and the excuses. The fact that cops can make up facts to protect themselves and get away with it. The idea that police are used as a tool of the government to enforce policies. The thought that police can brutally murder a man and then lie about it and no one asks questions. By the end of the article the writer asks the question as to what is the true role of a police force. His answer, I feel, is quite amazing:

This aggression is no doubt linked to the government's nasty habit of writing laws that
prefer the convenience of security forces to the rights of free citizens. But the police
are public servants, not government enforcers. Their job is to keep the peace,
not clear the streets of dissent.

Think about that comment for awhile and read the article. Ask yourself can this happen in the United States? The answer is an astounding "yes" and already does. It is my belief that police are a) needed to deter serious crimes (ie murder, rape, assault, robbery, etc.) b) should be held more accountable than the average citizen c) should not be used to enforce policies of a government. This means that police agencies should be transparent, that a cop is human and his word should not be a golden ticket and should be questioned (which many of you have learned the last time you fought a speeding ticket), that in the end his job should be to keep the peace and nothing more.