its kind of a term of art and applies more to the state than the police specifically - although the police are obviously the primary tool of doling out legalize

its kind of a term of art and applies more to the state than the police specifically - although the police are obviously the primary tool of doling out legalized violence and have in many ways usurped the power to determine what qualifies as legal. > For the same reasons, "monopoly" does not mean that only the government may use physical force, but that the state is that human community that successfully claims for itself to be the only source of legitimacy for all physical coercion or adjudication of coercion. For example, the law might permit individuals to use force in defense of one's self or property, but this right derives from the state's authority. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_on_violence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_on_violence