Reading G.M. Trevelyan's _History of England_, I came across a paragraph that seems quite pertinent today, concerning the establishment of Great Britain's police force by Sir Robert Peel (hence "Bobbies" and "Peelers").
"[I]n 1829 [Peel] established for the first time an efficient civilian Police, whom the populace endearingly called by either of his two names, Their social value in dealing with common crime was equaled by their political value in dealing with Radical mobs:
"for at last the place of the soldiers had been taken by a civic force armed only with batons, who were none the less capable of looking a mob in the face, and who, unlike the soldiers, could be used to quell the first signs of disturbance.
"There would be no more Lord George Gordon riots, and no more Peterloos... . From the first they were dressed in civilian blue, and in their early years they wore not helmets but stout top-hats.
'Set up first in London alone, they were in the course of a generation adopted al over the country, in answer to a universal demand." By militarizing the police, we have, it seems, turned the clock back to those bad-old pre-Peeler Peterloo days.
On the other hand, more thoughtful proposals for "defunding" the police appear to seek to revive the original concept of "civilian Policing." brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/20…
Just some reflections from someone who readily admits great ignorance on these topics. Polite reactions aimed at ameliorating that ignorance are very welcome. @ConLawWarrior
