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Content: Police are moral,
as well as legal, actors. But apart from the rule of
law and public accountability, the police power to use force, engage in
summary punishment, use covert surveillance, and to stop, search and arrest
citizens, can be used to support dictatorial regimes and practices. When
non-democratic regimes are toppled a prominent demand is always for the
elimination of the secret police. The term "police state" as represented
by Germany under National Socialism and the former Soviet Union under communism
suggests the opposite of a democratic state. Police are subservient to
a single party, not a legislature or judiciary. The policing of crime and
politics merge and political dissent becomes a crime. The meaning of the term police
has changed over the last 5 centuries. The word police comes from "polity",
meaning the form of government of a political body. In Europe in the 15thcentury it referred broadly to matters involving life, health and property. There was no distinct police force.