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Chapter 1 - The Role of the Police

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2023

Brandon del Pozo
Affiliation:
Brown University, Rhode Island
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Summary

Before proceeding to a detailed account of the powers of the police and the means to justify their exercise, this chapter describes key political features of the police role. Ultimately, the role is to impartially produce a unique form of practical, substantive justice among citizens, one that they are owed by the state as they encounter physical hazards, interpersonal conflicts, or are subject to behaviors that the law empowers the government to regulate. The role is derived here by a form of bootstrapping, in that it takes a broad survey of what we observe the police do when aspiring to its positivist ideals, distills it into categories, and then describes the political nature of each grouping. In doing so, it concludes policing’s practical, substantive justice consists of protection and rescue from physical harm, the collection of people and evidence for presentation to a magistrate in matters of criminal law, and the brokerage and enforcement of the fair terms of social cooperation in public spaces.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Police and the State
Security, Social Cooperation, and the Public Good
, pp. 5 - 25
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • The Role of the Police
  • Brandon del Pozo, Brown University, Rhode Island
  • Book: The Police and the State
  • Online publication: 17 January 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009215435.002
Available formats
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  • The Role of the Police
  • Brandon del Pozo, Brown University, Rhode Island
  • Book: The Police and the State
  • Online publication: 17 January 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009215435.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Role of the Police
  • Brandon del Pozo, Brown University, Rhode Island
  • Book: The Police and the State
  • Online publication: 17 January 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009215435.002
Available formats
×