> Police are, in fact, given far too many duties I don't know about the USA but in Ireland the original standing police force ( the RIC ) was responsible for c

> Police are, in fact, given far too many duties I don't know about the USA but in Ireland the original standing police force ( the RIC ) was responsible for census duties, farm inspections, tax collection and many other rural duties up until the 1920s. What police forces do now, focused on crime, is only a subset of their original conception as servants of the polis ( society ).