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cops excluded (quokk.au)
submitted 10 hours ago by Deceptichum@quokk.au to c/mop@quokk.au
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[-] SARGE@startrek.website 2 points 5 hours ago

Police are modern. They came into existence after the United States did.

The first contracted law enforcement was in the early 1600s in Scotland, unless my random 2am fixation on the history of how shitty cops are is wrong.

And a quick search tells me 1611 in Edinburgh.

Cops have been bastards for longer than the US has been around.

[-] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 3 points 4 hours ago

Ehhh I'd call that a foundational element and not policing as we'd consider it to be today. It was a very limited scope (known criminals, enforcing curfews, and dealing with riots).

Modern policing would be more London in the 1830s as the first police force, with American policing in the 1840s and beyond, with the american roots in the slave patrols from the 1700s.

Earlier models were more based on the mutual pledge system, with groups of families (tithings) have an assigned tithingman, with groups of tithings (a hundred). This became the basis of the constable.

this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2026
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