Did you bother to actually, you know, READ the article you shared? "It was not until the 1830s that the idea of a centralized municipal police department first

Did you bother to actually, you know, READ the article you shared? "It was not until the 1830s that the idea of a centralized municipal police department first emerged in the United States" vs. ". The first formal slave patrol was created in the Carolina colonies in 1704" Slave patrols predate municipal police departments by 100+ years. And for additional clarity, let's draw the link: " Following the Civil War, these vigilante-style organizations evolved in modern Southern police departments primarily as a means of controlling freed slaves who were now laborers working in an agricultural caste system, and enforcing "Jim Crow" segregation laws, designed to deny freed slaves equal rights and access to the political system." You're right in that northern police forces were more interested in protecting mercantile interests. And that's where we get the core functions of our police system: Protect the interests of the moneyed class (north) and suppress minorities (south) But citing this article as evidence that US police isn't rooted in slave patrols is... bold choice, Cotton.