In the UK, before the police were founded, public-order policing was done by soldiers, who were exactly the sort of repression force that kartan mentions. The P

In the UK, before the police were founded, public-order policing was done by soldiers, who were exactly the sort of repression force that kartan mentions. The Peterloo Massacre was perhaps the apogee of that kind of policing. The establishment of our modern warm and cuddly Peelers was a step in exactly this movement from repression force to citizens service.