Town, County, and State Police

[Lex Concord]

haha. Me too. No idea what I was thinking here.

I have an idea...


48....

49....


50!

Though I could be mistaken

 

[Eddie]

I thought that we were supposed to support our local sheriff.


I do, he's a great guy. I can call the jail and ask to speak to him and he picks up the phone. I can send him an e-mail and he responds to it. On the day when I need an appointment, it's time to move.

 

[hornadylnl]

If there were only one chief, who would get to say "I play cards with the chief of Poeleece"?

 

[Farmritch]

Yeah ,
What rambone said
From a former Town Masrshall

These two are right on. It is in our best interest not to nationalize the police.

The founding fathers believed in divided, de-centralized government. They intended that the strongest level of government should be local agencies, followed by other agencies (county, state, federal, etc) that less power on each tier "up the ladder". Today it could be argued that it is the opposite.

The reason for this is because we are a nation of laws, a republic. Police do not need their daily orders given to us from High Command. Policing the citizens is not supposed to structured like the military.

We are supposed to be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Therefore it follows that we should police ourselves, hiring local people to enforce the laws that local lawmakers have crafted, to govern local land. This design is meant to keep the laws crafted to best suit the people over whom they govern. Our country is too diverse to have blanket policies to govern us all.

What we are discussing about Police forces is the same idea encompassed by the 10th Amendment. What the federal government does nowadays is against what is stated in the constitution. The Federal government is not supposed to make up laws about abortion, gun laws, stem cells research, health care, etc, etc. States or local governments should be in charge of those types of things (if at all). But over time, the federal government has centralized power and gained more strength for itself, taken from the States for which it was intended.

What makes America great under Federalism is the fact that people can find a state to live in that suits them best. If you don't like the high income taxes of one New York, you can move to Florida where there is no income tax. If you don't like the State-run Health Care of Massachusetts, you can move somewhere else that believes in Free Markets. There are not supposed to be blanket laws that govern us all, crafted by bureaucrats in Washington. The Federal Government exists for a very unique and focused set of responsibilities, far from where it focuses its efforts today.

Every strong, tyrannical government wants its power amassed under one central voice, that can easily overstep its legal bounds and propagate illegal orders. This can be seen and studied in many cases throughout history. The U.S. Constitution was a blueprint for avoiding tyranny. If only we still followed it.