163-533: The Ordnungspolizei ( Orpo , German: [ˈɔʁdnʊŋspoliˌtsaɪ] , meaning "Order Police") were the uniformed police force in Nazi Germany from 1936 to 1945. The Orpo organisation was absorbed into the Nazi monopoly on power after regional police jurisdiction was removed in favour of the central Nazi government (" Reich -ification", Verreichlichung , of the police). The Orpo was controlled nominally by
326-509: A Generalleutnant in the Police who was also an SS member would be referred to as SS Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei . In 1942, SS membership became mandatory for police generals, with SS collar insignia (overlaid on police green backing) worn by all police officers ranked Generalmajor and above. The distinction between the police and the SS had virtually disappeared by 1943 with
489-402: A cost-benefit argument to obtain support from businesses standing to benefit – allowed him to achieve what Henry and John Fielding failed for their Bow Street detectives. Unlike the stipendiary system at Bow Street, the river police were full-time, salaried officers prohibited from taking private fees. His other contribution was the concept of preventive policing ; his police were to act as
652-454: A 10-mile radius of London. The word police was borrowed from French into the English language in the 18th century, but for a long time it applied only to French and continental European police forces. The word, and the concept of police itself, were "disliked as a symbol of foreign oppression". Before the 19th century, the first use of the word police recorded in government documents in
815-547: A Freemason to explore Masonry further through other degrees, administered separately from the basic Craft or "Blue Lodge" degrees described here, but generally having a similar structure and meetings. There is much diversity and little consistency in Freemasonry because each Masonic jurisdiction is independent and sets its own rules and procedures while Grand Lodges have limited jurisdiction over their constituent member Lodges, which are ultimately private clubs. The wording of
978-524: A Mason, he is qualified to join various "Concordant bodies" which offer additional degrees. These organisations are usually administered separately from the Grand Lodges who administer the Craft degrees. The extra degrees vary with locality and jurisdiction . In addition to these bodies, there are further organizations outside of the more traditional Rites of Freemasonry, that require an individual to be
1141-734: A Master Mason before they can join (such as the Rosicrucian Society of England ). Throughout its history, Freemasonry has received criticism and opposition on religious and political grounds. The Catholic Church, some Protestant denominations, and certain Islamic countries or entities have expressed opposition to or banned membership in Free-Masonry. Opposition to Freemasonry is sometimes rooted in anti-Semitism or conspiracy theories , and Freemasons have historically been persecuted by authoritarian states. The Masonic lodge
1304-452: A chain of command, with constables and sergeants managing lower-ranking birri , that they wore uniforms, that they were housed together with other employees of the podestà together with a number of servants including cooks and stable-keepers, that their parentage and places of origin were meticulously recorded, and that most were not native to Bologna, with many coming from outside Italy. The English system of maintaining public order since
1467-459: A formalization and regularization of existing policing methods, similar to the unofficial 'thief-takers'. What made them different was their formal attachment to the Bow Street magistrates' office, and payment by the magistrate with funds from the central government. They worked out of Fielding's office and court at No. 4 Bow Street, and did not patrol but served writs and arrested offenders on
1630-645: A given country, state or geographical area (termed a jurisdiction ). There is no single overarching governing body that presides over worldwide Freemasonry; connections between different jurisdictions depend solely on mutual recognition. Estimates of the worldwide membership of Freemasonry in the early 21st century ranged from about two million to more than six million. The fraternity is administratively organised into independent Grand Lodges (or sometimes Grand Orients), each of which governs its own Masonic jurisdiction, which consists of subordinate (or constituent ) Lodges. The United Grand Lodge of England remains
1793-693: A highly visible deterrent to crime by their permanent presence on the Thames. London was fast reaching a size unprecedented in world history, due to the onset of the Industrial Revolution . It became clear that the locally maintained system of volunteer constables and "watchmen" was ineffective, both in detecting and preventing crime. A parliamentary committee was appointed to investigate the system of policing in London . Upon Sir Robert Peel being appointed as Home Secretary in 1822, he established
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#17327988094651956-508: A lecture, which is usually on some aspect of Masonic history or ritual. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Lodge may hold a formal dinner , or festive board , sometimes involving toasting and song. The bulk of Masonic ritual consists of degree ceremonies. Candidates for Freemasonry are progressively initiated into Freemasonry, first in the degree of Entered Apprentice . At some later time, in separate ceremonies, they will be passed to
2119-489: A local prefectural office. The concept of the "prefecture system" spread to other cultures such as Korea and Japan. In Babylonia , law enforcement tasks were initially entrusted to individuals with military backgrounds or imperial magnates during the Old Babylonian period, but eventually, law enforcement was delegated to officers known as paqūdus , who were present in both cities and rural settlements. A paqūdu
2282-621: A military situation, so as not to lose police personnel to the general draft of the Wehrmacht or to the full SS divisions of the regular Waffen-SS . Very late in the war several Orpo SS -Police regiments were transferred to the Waffen-SS to form the 35th SS -Police Grenadier Division . Cossack Orpo units were rolled into the XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps with other units to nominally form 2nd Cossack Division. By
2445-749: A model for the police forces in many countries, including the United States and most of the British Empire . Bobbies can still be found in many parts of the Commonwealth of Nations . In Australia , organized law enforcement emerged soon after British colonization began in 1788. The first law enforcement organizations were the Night Watch and Row Boat Guard, which were formed in 1789 to police Sydney . Their ranks were drawn from well-behaved convicts deported to Australia. The Night Watch
2608-490: A modern county , which were overseen by an official known as a shire-reeve, from which the term sheriff evolved. The shire-reeve had the power of posse comitatus , meaning he could gather the men of his shire to pursue a criminal. Following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the tithing system was tightened with the frankpledge system. By the end of the 13th century, the office of constable developed. Constables had
2771-546: A particular neighborhood. This system typically did not apply to the Samurai themselves. Samurai clans were expected to resolve disputes among each other through negotiation, or when that failed through duels. Only rarely did Samurai bring their disputes to a magistrate or answer to police. In Joseon -era Korea, the Podocheong emerged as a police force with the power to arrest and punish criminals. Established in 1469 as
2934-630: A police dedicated to crime prevention was "perfectly congenial to the principle of the British constitution". Moreover, he went so far as to praise the French system, which had reached "the greatest degree of perfection" in his estimation. With the initial investment of £4,200, the new force the Marine Police began with about 50 men charged with policing 33,000 workers in the river trades, of whom Colquhoun claimed 11,000 were known criminals and "on
3097-492: A police department, police service, constabulary , gendarmerie , crime prevention , protective services, law enforcement agency , civil guard, or civic guard. Members may be referred to as police officers , troopers , sheriffs , constables , rangers , peace officers or civic/civil guards. Ireland differs from other English-speaking countries by using the Irish language terms Garda (singular) and Gardaí (plural), for both
3260-547: A precedent for "shared jurisdiction" between mainstream and Prince Hall Grand Lodges, effectively modifying the traditional interpretation of Exclusive Jurisdiction. By 2024, most U.S. Grand Lodges have recognized their Prince Hall counterparts, establishing a new norm where two Grand Lodges can legitimately operate within the same geographical area, provided they maintain mutual recognition and amity. The evolution of this practice demonstrates how traditional Masonic principles can adapt to accommodate social progress while maintaining
3423-592: A result, even ordinary criminals were consigned to concentration camps to remove them from the German racial community ( Volksgemeinschaft ) and ultimately exterminate them. The Order Police played a central role in carrying out the Holocaust . By "both career professionals and reservists, in both battalion formations and precinct service" ( Einzeldienst ) through providing men for the tasks involved. The German Order Police had grown to 244,500 men by mid-1940. The Orpo
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#17327988094653586-599: A second and more effective committee, and acted upon its findings. Royal assent to the Metropolitan Police Act 1829 was given and the Metropolitan Police Service was established on September 29, 1829, in London . Peel, widely regarded as the father of modern policing, was heavily influenced by the social and legal philosophy of Jeremy Bentham , who called for a strong and centralised, but politically neutral, police force for
3749-432: A separate chain of command directly to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler . The battalions were used for various auxiliary duties, including the so-called anti-partisan operations , support of combat troops, and construction of defence works (i.e. Atlantic Wall ). Some of them were focused on traditional security roles as an occupying force, while others were directly involved in actions designed to inflict terror and in
3912-483: A temporary organization, its role solidified into a permanent one. In Sweden , local governments were responsible for law and order by way of a royal decree issued by Magnus III in the 13th century. The cities financed and organized groups of watchmen who patrolled the streets. In the late 1500s in Stockholm, patrol duties were in large part taken over by a special corps of salaried city guards . The city guard
4075-514: Is 18, but university lodges are given dispensations to initiate undergraduates below that age.) Additionally, most Grand Lodges require a candidate to declare a belief in a Supreme Being (although every candidate must interpret this condition in his own way, as all religious discussion is commonly prohibited). In a few cases, the candidate may be required to be of a specific religion. The form of Freemasonry most common in Scandinavia (known as
4238-476: Is Regular and what is Irregular (and the definitions do not necessarily agree between Grand Lodges). Essentially, every Grand Lodge will hold that its landmarks (its requirements, tenets and rituals) are Regular, and judge other Grand Lodges based on those. If the differences are significant, one Grand Lodge may declare the other "Irregular" and withdraw or withhold recognition. The most commonly shared rules for Recognition (based on Regularity) are those given by
4401-464: Is a historically African-American branch of Freemasonry that maintains its own separate Grand Lodge system parallel to the state Grand Lodge system. Together, these two systems - the conservative Grand Lodges and Prince Hall Grand Lodges make up for a total of 97 UGLE recognized Grand Lodges, sharing jurisdictions in the United States. They represent the main bodies of Masonic governance in
4564-690: Is a system of 33 degrees, including the three Blue Lodge degrees administered by a local or national Supreme Council. This system is popular in North America, South America and in Continental Europe . In America, the York Rite , with a similar range, administers three orders of Masonry, namely the Royal Arch , Cryptic Masonry , and Knights Templar . In Britain, separate bodies administer each order. Freemasons are encouraged to join
4727-500: Is also cited as the primary legislation regulating the policing of the country between the Norman Conquest and the Metropolitan Police Act 1829 . From about 1500, private watchmen were funded by private individuals and organisations to carry out police functions. They were later nicknamed 'Charlies', probably after the reigning monarch King Charles II. Thief-takers were also rewarded for catching thieves and returning
4890-565: Is derived from πόλις ( polis ) 'city'. Law enforcement in ancient China was carried out by "prefects" for thousands of years since it developed in both the Chu and Jin kingdoms of the Spring and Autumn period . In Jin, dozens of prefects were spread across the state, each having limited authority and employment period. They were appointed by local magistrates, who reported to higher authorities such as governors, who in turn were appointed by
5053-536: Is in amity with the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Connecticut, the principle of Exclusive Jurisdiction does not apply, and other Grand Lodges may recognise both. Likewise, the five distinct kinds of lodges in Germany have nominally united under one Grand Lodge in order to obtain international recognition. The concept of Exclusive Jurisdiction has been significantly challenged in the United States with
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5216-456: Is not allowed. There are many reasons one Grand Lodge will withhold or withdraw recognition from another, but the two most common are Exclusive Jurisdiction and Regularity . Exclusive Jurisdiction is a concept whereby normally only one Grand Lodge will be recognised in any geographical area. If two Grand Lodges claim jurisdiction over the same area, the other Grand Lodges will have to choose between them, and they may not all decide to recognise
5379-434: Is progressively taught the meanings of the symbols of Freemasonry and entrusted with grips, signs, and words to signify to other members that he has been so initiated. The degrees are part allegorical morality play and part lecture. These three degrees form Craft (or Blue Lodge) Freemasonry, and members of any of these degrees are known as Free-Masons , Freemasons or Masons . Once the Craft degrees have been conferred upon
5542-481: Is that each candidate must be "free and of good reputation". The question of freedom, a standard feudal requirement of mediaeval guilds, is nowadays one of independence: the object is that every Mason should be a proper and responsible person. Thus, each Grand Lodge has a standard minimum age, varying greatly and often subject to dispensation in particular cases. (For example, in England the standard minimum age to join
5705-548: Is the Lodge . These private Lodges are usually supervised at the regional level (usually coterminous with a state, province, or national border) by a Grand Lodge or Grand Orient. There is no international, worldwide Grand Lodge that supervises all of Freemasonry; each Grand Lodge is independent, and they do not necessarily recognise each other as being legitimate. Lodges are found around the world and on all populated continents; however due to anti-Masonry and laws that effectively ban
5868-457: Is the annual installation of the Master of the Lodge and his appointed or elected officers. In some jurisdictions, an Installed Master elected, obligated, and invested to preside over a Lodge, is valued as a separate rank with its own secrets and distinctive title and attributes; after each full year in the chair the Master invests his elected successor and becomes a Past Master with privileges in
6031-424: Is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. The Lodge meets regularly and conducts the usual formal business of any small organisation (approve minutes , elect new members, appoint officers and take their reports, consider correspondence, bills and annual accounts, organise social and charitable events, etc.). In addition to such business, the meeting may perform a ceremony to confer a Masonic degree or receive
6194-432: Is upon candidates to ask to join; while they may be encouraged to ask, they may not be invited. Once the initial inquiry is made, a formal application may be proposed and seconded or announced in open Lodge and a more or less formal interview usually follows. If the candidate wishes to proceed, references are taken up during a period of notice so that members may enquire into the candidate's suitability and discuss it. Finally,
6357-594: The Einsatzgruppen , became an integral part of the Final Solution in the two years following the attack on the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, Operation Barbarossa . The first mass-murder of 3,000 Jews by Police Battalion 309 occurred in occupied Białystok on 12 July 1941. Police battalions were part of the first and second wave of murders in 1941–42 in the territories of Poland annexed by
6520-575: The Sicherheitspolizei ( SiPo or security police), which had been established in June 1936. The Orpo assumed duties of regular uniformed law enforcement while the SiPo consisted of the secret state police ( Geheime Staatspolizei or Gestapo ) and criminal investigation police ( Kriminalpolizei or Kripo). The Kriminalpolizei was a corps of professional detectives involved in fighting crime and
6683-580: The Areopagus . In Sparta , the Ephors were in charge of maintaining public order as judges, and they used Sparta's Hippeis , a 300-member Royal guard of honor, as their enforcers. There were separate authorities supervising women, children, and agricultural issues. Sparta also had a secret police force called the crypteia to watch the large population of helots , or slaves. In the Roman Empire ,
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6846-531: The Bible , the Quran , or other religious scripture be open in a working lodge, that every member professes belief in a Supreme Being , that no women be admitted, and that the discussion of religion and politics do not take place within the lodge; and Continental Freemasonry , which consists of the jurisdictions that have removed some, or all, of these restrictions. The basic, local organisational unit of Freemasonry
7009-680: The Catholic and the Jewish populations as part of those "resettlement actions". After hostilities had ceased, the battalions – such as Reserve Police Battalion 101 – took up the role of security forces , patrolling the perimeters of the Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland (the internal ghetto security issues were managed by the SS , SD , and the Criminal Police, in conjunction with
7172-594: The Holocaust and were responsible for widespread crimes against humanity and genocide targeting the civilian population. Heinrich Himmler , head of the SS , was named Chief of German Police in the Interior Ministry on 17 June 1936 after Hitler announced a decree to "unify the control of police duties in the Reich". Traditionally, law enforcement in Germany had been a state and local matter. In this role, Himmler
7335-631: The Holy Royal Arch , which is linked to Mark Masonry in Scotland and Ireland, but completely separate in England. In England, the Royal Arch is closely associated with the Craft, automatically having many Grand Officers in common, including H.R.H the Duke of Kent as both Grand Master of the Craft and First Grand Principal of the Royal Arch. The English Knights Templar and Cryptic Masonry share
7498-677: The Inca Empire , officials called curaca enforced the law among the households they were assigned to oversee, with inspectors known as tokoyrikoq ( lit. ' he who sees all ' ) also stationed throughout the provinces to keep order. In medieval Spain , Santas Hermandades , or 'holy brotherhoods', peacekeeping associations of armed individuals, were a characteristic of municipal life, especially in Castile . As medieval Spanish kings often could not offer adequate protection, protective municipal leagues began to emerge in
7661-645: The Interior Ministry , but its executive functions rested with the leadership of the SS until the end of World War II . Owing to their green uniforms, Orpo were also referred to as Grüne Polizei (green police). The force was first established as a centralised organisation uniting the municipal, city, and rural uniformed police that had been organised on a state-by-state basis. The Ordnungspolizei encompassed virtually all of Nazi Germany's law-enforcement and emergency response organisations, including fire brigades , coast guard , and civil defence . In
7824-547: The Landmarks of Freemasonry , which elude any universally accepted definition. Candidates for Freemasonry will usually have met the most active members of the Lodge they are joining before being elected for initiation. The process varies among Grand Lodges, but in modern times interested people often look up a local Lodge through the Internet and will typically be introduced to a Lodge social function or open evening. The onus
7987-497: The Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel) No. 1 in Scotland show a continuity from an operative lodge in 1598 to a modern speculative Lodge. It is reputed to be the oldest Masonic Lodge in the world. Alternatively, Thomas De Quincey in his work titled Rosicrucians and Freemasonry put forward the theory that suggested that Freemasonry may have been an outgrowth of Rosicrucianism . The theory had also been postulated in 1803 by German professor; J. G. Buhle . The first Grand Lodge,
8150-691: The Nile River , and guarding administrative buildings. By the Eighteenth Dynasty of the New Kingdom period, an elite desert-ranger police force called the Medjay was used to protect valuable areas, especially areas of pharaonic interest like capital cities, royal cemeteries, and the borders of Egypt. Though they are best known for their protection of the royal palaces and tombs in Thebes and
8313-595: The Nordic countries , the Swedish Rite is dominant; a variation of it is also used in parts of Germany. Freemasonry describes itself as a "beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols". The symbolism is mainly, but not exclusively, drawn from the tools of stonemasons – the square and compasses , the level and plumb rule, the trowel , the rough and smooth ashlars , among others. Moral lessons are attributed to each of these tools, although
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#17327988094658476-663: The Ordnungspolizei . The primary combat arm of the Ordnungspolizei was the SS Polizei Division of the Waffen-SS . The division was formed in October 1939, when thousands of members of the Orpo were drafted and placed together with artillery and signals units transferred from the army. The division consisted of four police regiments composed of Orpo personnel and was typically used to rotate police members into
8639-563: The River Thames to establish a police force at the docks to prevent rampant theft that was causing annual estimated losses of £500,000 worth of cargo in imports alone. The idea of a police, as it then existed in France , was considered as a potentially undesirable foreign import. In building the case for the police in the face of England's firm anti-police sentiment, Colquhoun framed the political rationale on economic indicators to show that
8802-535: The SS and, for those who did so, a special police insignia known as the SS Membership Runes for Order Police was worn on the breast pocket of the police uniform. In 1940, standard practice in the German Police was to grant equivalent SS rank to all police generals. Police generals who were members of the SS were referred to simultaneously by both rank titles – for instance,
8965-477: The Scythian Archers (the ῥαβδοῦχοι 'rod-bearers'), a group of about 300 Scythian slaves, was used to guard public meetings to keep order and for crowd control , and also assisted with dealing with criminals, handling prisoners, and making arrests. Other duties associated with modern policing, such as investigating crimes, were left to the citizens themselves. Athenian police forces were supervised by
9128-531: The Siege of Leningrad in 1941. The first 17 battalion formations (from 1943 renamed SS-Polizei-Bataillone ) were deployed by Orpo in September 1939 along with the Wehrmacht army in the invasion of Poland . The battalions guarded Polish prisoners of war behind the German lines, and carried out expulsion of Poles from Reichsgaue under the banner of Lebensraum . They also committed atrocities against both
9291-479: The Swedish Rite ), for example, accepts only Christians. At the other end of the spectrum, "Liberal" or Continental Freemasonry , exemplified by the Grand Orient de France , does not require a declaration of belief in any deity and accepts atheists (the cause of the distinction from the rest of Freemasonry). During the ceremony of initiation, the candidate is required to undertake an obligation, swearing on
9454-544: The Thames River Police together with new laws including police powers; now the oldest police force in the world. Colquhoun published a book on the experiment, The Commerce and Policing of the River Thames . It found receptive audiences far outside London, and inspired similar forces in other cities, notably, New York City , Dublin , and Sydney . Colquhoun's utilitarian approach to the problem – using
9617-608: The United Grand Lodge of England . The Grand Lodge of Ireland and the Grand Lodge of Scotland were formed in 1725 and 1736, respectively, although neither persuaded all of the existing lodges in their countries to join for many years. The earliest known American lodges were in Pennsylvania . The collector for the port of Pennsylvania, John Moore, wrote of attending lodges there in 1715, two years before
9780-562: The United States , Masonic membership is organized in two systems, first through 51 Conservative Grand Lodges - one for each state plus the District of Columbia . While these Grand Lodges once boasted over 4 million members in 1957, membership has declined sharply. According to the Masonic Service Association of North America, current combined membership across these jurisdictions stands at approximately 875,000 members. Additionally, there are 46 Prince Hall Grand Lodges in amity with UGLE, operating across various U.S. states. Prince Hall Masonry
9943-415: The Waffen-SS ). In 1942, the majority of the police battalions were re-consolidated into thirty SS and Police Regiments . These formations were intended for garrison security duty, anti-partisan functions, and to support Waffen-SS units on the Eastern Front . Notably, the regular military police of the Wehrmacht ( Feldgendarmerie , Feldjägerkorps , and Geheime Feldpolizei ) were separate from
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#173279880946510106-575: The War of the Castilian Succession in 1479, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile established the centrally-organized and efficient Holy Brotherhood as a national police force. They adapted an existing brotherhood to the purpose of a general police acting under officials appointed by themselves, and endowed with great powers of summary jurisdiction even in capital cases. The original brotherhoods continued to serve as modest local police-units until their final suppression in 1835. The Vehmic courts of Germany provided some policing in
10269-408: The prisoner-of-war camps . Police force The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety , health , and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder . Their lawful powers encompass arrest and
10432-474: The second world war from 33,000 in 1960 to 53,000 in 2023. Relations between Grand Lodges are determined by the concept of Recognition . Each Grand Lodge maintains a list of other Grand Lodges that it recognises. When two Grand Lodges recognise and are in Masonic communication with each other, they are said to be in amity , and the brethren of each may visit each other's Lodges and interact Masonically. When two Grand Lodges are not in amity, inter-visitation
10595-458: The special police authorities not subordinate to the Hauptamt Ordnungspolizei or the Reichssicherheitshauptamt : Between 1939 and 1945, the Ordnungspolizei maintained military formations, trained and outfitted by the main police offices within Germany. Specific duties varied widely from unit to unit and from one year to another. Generally, the Order Police were not directly involved in frontline combat, except for Ardennes in May 1940, and
10758-467: The " continental model" of the police force that had been developed in France, where the police force worked within the parameters of the absolutist state as an extension of the authority of the monarch and functioned as part of the governing state. In 1863, the Metropolitan Police were issued with the distinctive custodian helmet , and in 1884 they switched to the use of whistles that could be heard from much further away. The Metropolitan Police became
10921-404: The "craft" by being progressively "initiated", "passed" and "raised" into the three degrees of Craft, or Blue Lodge Masonry. During these three rituals, the candidate is progressively taught the Masonic symbols, and entrusted with grips or tokens, signs, and words to signify to other Masons which degrees he has taken. The dramatic allegorical ceremonies include explanatory lectures and revolve around
11084-419: The Battalions and local Order Police units helped to transport Jews from the ghettos in both Poland and the USSR (and elsewhere in occupied Europe ) to the concentration and extermination camps, as well as operations to hunt down and murder Jews outside the ghettos. The Order Police were one of the two primary sources from which the Einsatzgruppen drew personnel in accordance with manpower needs (the other being
11247-423: The Bow Street office. Under John Fielding, the institution of the Bow Street Runners gained more and more recognition from the government, although the force was only funded intermittently in the years that followed. In 1763, the Bow Street Horse Patrol was established to combat highway robbery, funded by a government grant. The Bow Street Runners served as the guiding principle for the way that policing developed over
11410-665: The Caliphate of Uthman . The Shurta is known to have existed in the Abbasid and Umayyad Caliphates . Their primary roles were to act as police and internal security forces but they could also be used for other duties such as customs and tax enforcement, rubbish collection, and acting as bodyguards for governors. From the 10th century, the importance of the Shurta declined as the army assumed internal security tasks while cities became more autonomous and handled their own policing needs locally, such as by hiring watchmen. In addition, officials called muhtasibs were responsible for supervising bazaars and economic activity in general in
11573-421: The French one as a threat to the people's liberty and balanced constitution in favor of an arbitrary and tyrannical government. Law enforcement was mostly up to the private citizens, who had the right and duty to prosecute crimes in which they were involved or in which they were not. At the cry of 'murder!' or 'stop thief!' everyone was entitled and obliged to join the pursuit. Once the criminal had been apprehended,
11736-473: The Grand Lodge of London and Westminster, later called the Grand Lodge of England , was founded on St John's Day , 24 June 1717, when four existing London Lodges met for a joint dinner. Over the next decade, most of the existing Lodges in England joined the new regulatory body, which itself entered a period of self-publicity and expansion. New lodges were created, and the fraternity began to grow. During
11899-723: The Irish Constabulary Act of 1822 marked the beginning of the Royal Irish Constabulary . The Act established a force in each barony with chief constables and inspectors general under the control of the civil administration at Dublin Castle . By 1841 this force numbered over 8,600 men. In 1797, Patrick Colquhoun was able to persuade the West Indies merchants who operated at the Pool of London on
12062-583: The Jewish ghetto administration ). Each battalion consisted of approximately 500 men armed with light infantry weapons. In the east, each company also had a heavy machine-gun detachment. Administratively, the Police Battalions remained under the Chief of Police Kurt Daluege , but operationally they were under the authority of regional SS and Police Leaders ( SS- und Polizeiführer ), who reported up
12225-625: The King's bailiffs were responsible for law and order until the establishment of counties in the 1630s. Up to the early 18th century, the level of state involvement in law enforcement in Britain was low. Although some law enforcement officials existed in the form of constables and watchmen, there was no organized police force. A professional police force like the one already present in France would have been ill-suited to Britain, which saw examples such as
12388-583: The Lodge and Grand Lodge. In other jurisdictions, the grade is not recognised, and no inner ceremony conveys new secrets during the installation of a new Master of the Lodge. Most Lodges have some sort of social functions, allowing members, their partners, and non-Masonic guests to meet openly. Often coupled with these events is the discharge of every Mason's and Lodge's collective obligation to contribute to charity. This occurs at many levels, including in annual dues, subscriptions, fundraising events, Lodges and Grand Lodges. Masons and their charities contribute for
12551-427: The Lodge takes an officially secret ballot on each application before a candidate is either initiated or rejected. The exact number of adverse ballots ("blackballs") required to reject a candidate varies between Masonic jurisdictions. As an example, the United Grand Lodge of England only requires a single "blackball", while the Grand Lodge of New York requires three. A minimum requirement of every body of Freemasons
12714-791: The Mark Grand Lodge offices and staff at Mark Masons Hall. The Ancient and Accepted Rite (similar to the Scottish Rite), requires a member to proclaim the Trinitarian Christian faith, and is administered from Duke Street in London. Conversely, the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia is a fully independent esoteric organization that requires members be United Grand Lodge of England Master Masons . In
12877-726: The Marshal. The marshalcy dates back to the Hundred Years' War , and some historians trace it back to the early 12th century. Another organisation, the Constabulary ( Old French : Connétablie ), was under the command of the Constable of France . The constabulary was regularised as a military body in 1337. Under Francis I (reigned 1515–1547), the Maréchaussée was merged with the constabulary. The resulting force
13040-474: The Norman conquest was a private system of tithings known as the mutual pledge system. This system was introduced under Alfred the Great . Communities were divided into groups of ten families called tithings, each of which was overseen by a chief tithingman. Every household head was responsible for the good behavior of his own family and the good behavior of other members of his tithing. Every male aged 12 and over
13203-620: The Old Kingdom collapsed, ushering in the First Intermediate Period , it is thought that the same model applied. During this period, Bedouins were hired to guard the borders and protect trade caravans. During the Middle Kingdom period, a professional police force was created with a specific focus on enforcing the law, as opposed to the previous informal arrangement of using warriors as police. The police force
13366-593: The Paris police force was extended to the rest of France by a royal edict of October 1699, resulting in the creation of lieutenants general of police in all large French cities and towns. After the French Revolution , Napoléon I reorganized the police in Paris and other cities with more than 5,000 inhabitants on February 17, 1800, as the Prefecture of Police . On March 12, 1829, a government decree created
13529-552: The Premiere Grand Lodge had adopted. As an insult, the self proclaimed "Antient Grand Lodge" coined the term "modern" to designate the Premiere Grand Lodge (historians now use Premiere Grand Lodge and Antient Grand Lodge – to differentiate the two bodies). These two Grand Lodges vied for supremacy until the Premiere Grand Lodge made a compromise with the antient Grand Lodge to return to a ritual that worked for both Grand Lodges. They re-united on 27 December 1813 to form
13692-628: The Soviet Union and also during the killing operations within the 1939 borders of the USSR, whether as part of Order Police regiments, or as separate units reporting directly to the local SS and Police Leaders. They included the Reserve Police Battalion 101 from Hamburg, Battalion 133 of the Nürnberg Order Police, Police Battalions 45 , 309 from Koln, and 316 from Bottrop - Oberhausen . Their murder operations bore
13855-652: The United Grand Lodge of England in 1929: Blue Lodges, known as Craft Lodges in the United Kingdom, offer only the three traditional degrees. In most jurisdictions, the rank of past or installed master is also conferred in Blue/Craft Lodges. Master Masons are able to extend their Masonic experience by taking further degrees, in appendant or other bodies whether or not approved by their own Grand Lodge. The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite
14018-715: The United Kingdom was the appointment of Commissioners of Police for Scotland in 1714 and the creation of the Marine Police in 1798. Following early police forces established in 1779 and 1788 in Glasgow , Scotland , the Glasgow authorities successfully petitioned the government to pass the Glasgow Police Act establishing the City of Glasgow Police in 1800. Other Scottish towns soon followed suit and set up their own police forces through acts of parliament. In Ireland ,
14181-460: The United States, though both have experienced significant membership declines since their mid-20th century peaks. Grand Orient de France , the largest jurisdiction in Continental or Liberal Freemasonry in terms of membership, is over 53,000 members spread across approximately 1,381 lodges for an average of 38 members per Lodges. The Grand Orient de France has been growing in membership since
14344-449: The absence of strong state institutions. Such courts had a chairman who presided over a session and lay judges who passed judgement and carried out law enforcement tasks. Among the responsibilities that lay judges had were giving formal warnings to known troublemakers, issuing warrants, and carrying out executions. In the medieval Islamic Caliphates , police were known as Shurta . Bodies termed Shurta existed perhaps as early as
14507-503: The amalgamation of SS and police into a form of "State Protection Corps" ( Staatsschutzkorps ), and used the expanded reach the police powers gave him to persecute ideological opponents and "undesirables" of the Nazi regime such as Jews, freemasons , churches, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses , and other groups defined as " asocial ". The Nazi conception of criminality was racial and biological, holding that criminal traits were hereditary, and had to be exterminated to purify German blood. As
14670-439: The army played a major role in providing security. Roman soldiers detached from their legions and posted among civilians carried out law enforcement tasks. The Praetorian Guard , an elite army unit which was primarily an Imperial bodyguard and intelligence-gathering unit, could also act as a riot police force if required. Local watchmen were hired by cities to provide some extra security. Lictors , civil servants whose primary duty
14833-414: The assignment is by no means consistent. The meaning of the symbolism is taught and explored through ritual, and in lectures and articles by individual Masons who offer their personal insights and opinions. According to the scholar of Western esotericism Jan A. M. Snoek: "the best way to characterize Freemasonry is in terms of what it is not, rather than what it is". All Freemasons begin their journey in
14996-430: The authority of the magistrates, travelling nationwide to apprehend criminals. Fielding wanted to regulate and legalize law enforcement activities due to the high rate of corruption and mistaken or malicious arrests seen with the system that depended mainly on private citizens and state rewards for law enforcement. Henry Fielding's work was carried on by his brother, Justice John Fielding , who succeeded him as magistrate in
15159-643: The brunt of the Holocaust by bullet on the Eastern Front. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, this latter role was obscured both by the lack of court evidence and by deliberate obfuscation, while most of the focus was on the better-known Einsatzgruppen ("Operational groups") who reported to the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) under Reinhard Heydrich . Order Police battalions involved in direct killing operations were responsible for at least 1 million murders. Starting in 1941
15322-437: The capital had grown to almost one million inhabitants, 14 wards were created; the wards were protected by seven squads of 1,000 men called vigiles , who acted as night watchmen and firemen. In addition to firefighting, their duties included apprehending petty criminals, capturing runaway slaves, guarding the baths at night, and stopping disturbances of the peace. As well as the city of Rome, vigiles were also stationed in
15485-402: The cities, each ward was under the command of a Superintendent of Police, known as a Kuipan . Police officers also acted as prosecutors and carried out punishments imposed by the courts. They were required to know the court procedure for prosecuting cases and advancing accusations. In ancient Israel and Judah , officials with the responsibility of making declarations to the people, guarding
15648-659: The city of Paris , then the largest city in Europe. The royal edict, registered by the Parlement of Paris on March 15, 1667, created the office of lieutenant général de police ("lieutenant general of police"), who was to be the head of the new Paris police force, and defined the task of the police as "ensuring the peace and quiet of the public and of private individuals, purging the city of what may cause disturbances, procuring abundance, and having each and everyone live according to their station and their duties". This office
15811-510: The construction of the Temple of Solomon , and the artistry and death of the chief architect, Hiram Abiff . The degrees are those of "Entered apprentice", "Fellowcraft" and "Master Mason". While many different versions of these rituals exist, with various lodge layouts and versions of the Hiramic legend, each version is recognizable to any Freemason from any jurisdiction. In some jurisdictions,
15974-593: The course of the 18th century, as aristocrats and artists crowded out the craftsmen originally associated with the organization, Freemasonry became fashionable throughout Europe and the American colonies . Between 1730 and 1750, the Grand Lodge endorsed several significant changes that some Lodges could not endorse. A rival Grand Lodge was formed on 17 July 1751, which called itself the " Antient Grand Lodge of England " to signify that, in their opinion, these lodges were maintaining older traditions and rejected changes that
16137-521: The creation of the SS and Police Regiments, which were consolidated from earlier police security battalions. SS officers now routinely commanded police troops and police generals serving in command of military troops were granted equivalent SS rank in the Waffen-SS . In August 1944, when Himmler was appointed Chef des Ersatzheeres (Chief of the Home Army), all police generals automatically were granted Waffen-SS rank because they had authority over
16300-487: The degree of Fellowcraft ; and then raised to the degree of Master Mason . In each of these ceremonies, the candidate must first take the new obligations of the degree, and is then entrusted with secret knowledge including passwords, signs and grips ( secret handshakes ) confined to his new rank. Although these symbols and gestures are nominally secret, they are readily found in public sources, including those published by Masonic organizations themselves. Another ceremony
16463-403: The emperor, and they oversaw the civil administration of their "prefecture", or jurisdiction. Under each prefect were "subprefects" who helped collectively with law enforcement in the area. Some prefects were responsible for handling investigations, much like modern police detectives. Prefects could also be women. Local citizens could report minor judicial offenses against them such as robberies at
16626-881: The end of the war. By 1941, the Orpo had been divided into the following offices covering every aspect of German law enforcement. The central command office known as the Ordnungspolizei Hauptamt was located in Berlin . From 1943 it was considered a full SS -Headquarters command. The Orpo main office consisted of Command Department ( Kommandoamt ), responsible for finance, personnel and medical; Administrative ( Verwaltung ) charged with pay, pensions and permits; Economic ( Wirtschaftsverwaltungsamt ); Technical Emergency Service ( Technische Nothilfe ); Fire Brigades Bureau ( Feuerwehren ); Colonial Police ( Kolonialpolizei ); and SS and Police Technical Training Academy ( Technische SS-und Polizeiakademie ). The Sonderpolizei were
16789-767: The ensuing Holocaust . While they were similar to Waffen-SS , they were not part of the thirty-eight Waffen-SS divisions, and should not be confused with them, including the national 4th SS Polizei Panzergrenadier Division . The battalions were originally numbered in series from 1 to 325, but in February 1943 were renamed and renumbered from 1 to about 37, to distinguish them from the Schutzmannschaft auxiliary battalions recruited from local population in German-occupied areas. The Order Police battalions , operating both independently and in conjunction with
16952-417: The fine. A group of ten tithings was known as a "hundred" and every hundred was overseen by an official known as a reeve . Hundreds ensured that if a criminal escaped to a neighboring village, he could be captured and returned to his village. If a criminal was not apprehended, then the entire hundred could be fined. The hundreds were governed by administrative divisions known as shires , the rough equivalent of
17115-457: The first evidence of ceremonial regalia. There is no clear mechanism by which these local trade organisations became today's Masonic Lodges. The earliest rituals and passwords known, from operative lodges around the turn of the 17th–18th centuries, show continuity with the rituals developed in the later 18th century by accepted or speculative Masons, as those members who did not practice the physical craft gradually came to be known. The minutes of
17278-683: The first uniformed police in France , known as sergents de ville ('city sergeants'), which the Paris Prefecture of Police's website claims were the first uniformed policemen in the world. In feudal Japan, samurai warriors were charged with enforcing the law among commoners. Some Samurai acted as magistrates called Machi-bugyō , who acted as judges, prosecutors, and as chief of police. Beneath them were other Samurai serving as yoriki , or assistant magistrates, who conducted criminal investigations, and beneath them were Samurai serving as dōshin , who were responsible for patrolling
17441-400: The force had the task of policing the civilian population of the occupied and colonised countries beginning in spring 1940. Orpo's activities escalated to genocide with the invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa . Twenty-three Order Police battalions , formed into independent regiments or attached to Wehrmacht security divisions and Einsatzgruppen , perpetrated mass-murder in
17604-406: The fundamental aims of regular Freemasonry. Some jurisdictions have formalized this arrangement through written agreements that specifically outline the terms of shared jurisdiction. Regularity is a concept based on adherence to Masonic Landmarks , the basic membership requirements, tenets and rituals of the craft. Each Grand Lodge sets its own definition of what these landmarks are, and thus what
17767-603: The game". The force was part funded by the London Society of West India Planters and Merchants . The force was a success after its first year, and his men had "established their worth by saving £122,000 worth of cargo and by the rescuing of several lives". Word of this success spread quickly, and the government passed the Depredations on the Thames Act 1800 on 28 July 1800, establishing a fully funded police force
17930-711: The harbor cities of Ostia and Portus . Augustus also formed the Urban Cohorts to deal with gangs and civil disturbances in the city of Rome, and as a counterbalance to the Praetorian Guard's enormous power in the city. They were led by the urban prefect . Urban Cohort units were later formed in Roman Carthage and Lugdunum . Law enforcement systems existed in the various kingdoms and empires of ancient India . The Apastamba Dharmasutra prescribes that kings should appoint officers and subordinates in
18093-448: The increasing recognition of Prince Hall Grand Lodges , a branch of Freemasonry created for African Americans. Historically, many "mainstream" or conservative U.S. Grand Lodges refused to recognize Prince Hall Grand Lodges operating in their states, citing Exclusive Jurisdiction. However, this began to change in 1989 when the Grand Lodge of Connecticut extended recognition to its Prince Hall counterpart. This initial recognition created
18256-492: The king's person, supervising public works, and executing the orders of the courts existed in the urban areas. They are repeatedly mentioned in the Hebrew Bible , and this system lasted into the period of Roman rule. The first century Jewish historian Josephus related that every judge had two such officers under his command. Levites were preferred for this role. Cities and towns also had night watchmen. Besides officers of
18419-419: The largest Masonic jurisdiction worldwide. However, its membership has declined dramatically - from about 500,000 members in the 1960s to approximately 175,000 in 2021. The organization is structured into various Provincial Grand Lodges at the local level. Similarly, the Grand Lodge of Ireland has experienced a steep decline, with membership falling from 100,000 in 1960 to around 19,000 members currently. In
18582-449: The late 18th and early 19th centuries, these developed within the context of maintaining the class system and the protection of private property . Police forces have become ubiquitous and a necessity in complex modern societies. However, their role can sometimes be controversial, as they may be involved to varying degrees in corruption , brutality , and the enforcement of authoritarian rule . A police force may also be referred to as
18745-558: The law. In most Lodges, the oath or obligation is taken on a Volume of Sacred Law , whichever book of divine revelation is appropriate to the religious beliefs of the individual brother (usually the Bible in the Anglo-American tradition). In Progressive continental Freemasonry, books other than scripture are permissible, a cause of rupture between Grand Lodges. Since the middle of the 19th century, Masonic historians have sought
18908-425: The local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 14th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities and clients. Freemasonry is the oldest fraternity in the world and among the oldest continued organizations in history. Modern Freemasonry broadly consists of two main recognition groups: Regular Freemasonry , which insists that a “volume of sacred law”, such as
19071-536: The main themes of each degree are illustrated by tracing boards . These painted depictions of Masonic themes are exhibited in the lodge according to which degree is being worked and are explained to the candidate to illustrate the legend and symbolism of each degree. The idea of Masonic brotherhood probably descends from a 16th-century legal definition of a "brother" as one who has taken an oath of mutual support to another. Accordingly, Masons swear at each degree to support and protect their brethren unless they have broken
19234-476: The maintenance of social order, for the protection of people from crime and to act as a visible deterrent to urban crime and disorder. Peel decided to standardise the police force as an official paid profession, to organise it in a civilian fashion, and to make it answerable to the public. Due to public fears concerning the deployment of the military in domestic matters, Peel organised the force along civilian lines, rather than paramilitary . To appear neutral,
19397-478: The manner they find most satisfying. Some will simply enjoy the dramatics, or the management and administration of the lodge, others will explore the history, ritual and symbolism of the craft, others will focus their involvement on their Lodge's sociopolitical side, perhaps in association with other lodges, while still others will concentrate on the lodge's charitable functions. Grand Lodges and Grand Orients are independent and sovereign bodies that govern Masonry in
19560-635: The medieval Islamic world. In France during the Middle Ages , there were two Great Officers of the Crown of France with police responsibilities: The Marshal of France and the Grand Constable of France . The military policing responsibilities of the Marshal of France were delegated to the Marshal's provost, whose force was known as the Marshalcy because its authority ultimately derived from
19723-407: The national police force and its members. The word police is the most universal and similar terms can be seen in many non-English speaking countries. Numerous slang terms exist for the police. Many slang terms for police officers are decades or centuries old with lost etymologies. One of the oldest, cop , has largely lost its slang connotations and become a common colloquial term used both by
19886-541: The next 80 years. Bow Street was a manifestation of the move towards increasing professionalisation and state control of street life, beginning in London. The Macdaniel affair , a 1754 British political scandal in which a group of thief-takers was found to be falsely prosecuting innocent men in order to collect reward money from bounties , added further impetus for a publicly salaried police force that did not depend on rewards. Nonetheless, In 1828, there were privately financed police units in no fewer than 45 parishes within
20049-637: The nobility enforced law in the countryside according to the will of their leaders. The Songhai Empire had officials known as assara-munidios , or "enforcers", acting as police. Pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas also had organized law enforcement. The city-states of the Maya civilization had constables known as tupils . In the Aztec Empire , judges had officers serving under them who were empowered to perform arrests, even of dignitaries. In
20212-425: The number of private thief-takers. Thief-takers became infamously known not so much for what they were supposed to do, catching real criminals and prosecuting them, as for "setting themselves up as intermediaries between victims and their attackers, extracting payments for the return of stolen goods and using the threat of prosecution to keep offenders in thrall". Some of them, such as Jonathan Wild , became infamous at
20375-444: The office of justice of the peace was established, with a justice of the peace overseeing constables. There was also a system of investigative " juries ". The Assize of Arms of 1252 , which required the appointment of constables to summon men to arms, quell breaches of the peace , and to deliver offenders to the sheriff or reeve, is cited as one of the earliest antecedents of the English police. The Statute of Winchester of 1285
20538-531: The origins of the movement in a series of similar documents known as the Old Charges , dating from the Regius Poem in about 1425 to the beginning of the 18th century. Alluding to the membership of a lodge of operative masons , they relate it to a mythologised history of the craft, the duties of its grades, and the manner in which oaths of fidelity are to be taken on joining. The 15th century also sees
20701-468: The parish constables and night watchmen, who were the only public figures provided by the state and who were typically part-time and local, would make the arrest. As a result, the state set a reward to encourage citizens to arrest and prosecute offenders. The first of such rewards was established in 1692 of the amount of £40 for the conviction of a highwayman and in the following years it was extended to burglars, coiners and other forms of offense. The reward
20864-526: The pilgrims against robber knights. Throughout the Middle Ages such alliances were frequently formed by combinations of towns to protect the roads connecting them, and were occasionally extended to political purposes. Among the most powerful was the league of North Castilian and Basque ports, the Hermandad de las marismas: Toledo , Talavera , and Villarreal . As one of their first acts after end of
21027-629: The prewar period, Heinrich Himmler , head of the SS , and Kurt Daluege , chief of the Order Police, cooperated in transforming the police force of the Weimar Republic into militarised formations ready to serve the regime's aims of conquest and racial annihilation. Police troops were first formed into battalion-sized formations for the invasion of Poland , where they were deployed for security and policing purposes, also taking part in executions and mass deportations. During World War II ,
21190-533: The public and police officers to refer to their profession. First attested in English in the early 15th century, originally in a range of senses encompassing '(public) policy; state; public order', the word police comes from Middle French police ('public order, administration, government'), in turn from Latin politia , which is the romanization of the Ancient Greek πολιτεία ( politeia ) 'citizenship, administration, civil polity'. This
21353-566: The putative formation of the first Grand Lodge in London. The Grand Lodge of England appointed a Provincial Grand Master for North America in 1731, based in Pennsylvania, leading to the creation of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania . In Canada, Erasmus James Philipps became a Freemason while working on a commission to resolve boundaries in New England and, in 1739, he became provincial Grand Master for Nova Scotia ; Philipps founded
21516-533: The relief of need in many fields, such as education, health and old age. Private Lodges form the backbone of Freemasonry, with the sole right to elect their own candidates for initiation as Masons or admission as joining Masons, and sometimes with exclusive rights over residents local to their premises. There are non-local Lodges where Masons meet for wider or narrower purposes, such or in association with some hobby, sport, Masonic research, business, profession, regiment or college. The rank of Master Mason also entitles
21679-404: The religious volume sacred to his personal faith to do good as a Mason. In the course of three degrees, Masons will promise to keep the secrets of their degree from lower degrees and outsiders, as far as practicality and the law permit, and to support a fellow Mason in distress. There is formal instruction as to the duties of a Freemason, but on the whole, Freemasons are left to explore the craft in
21842-519: The ritual, the number of officers present, the layout of the meeting room, etc. varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Almost all officers of a Lodge are elected or appointed annually. Every Masonic Lodge has a Master, two Wardens, a treasurer and a secretary. There is also always a Tyler , or outer guard, outside the door of a working Lodge, who may be paid to secure its privacy. Other offices vary between jurisdictions. Each Masonic Lodge exists and operates according to ancient principles known as
22005-402: The same one. (In 1849, for example, the Grand Lodge of New York split into two rival factions, each claiming to be the legitimate Grand Lodge. Other Grand Lodges had to choose between them until the schism was healed. ) Exclusive Jurisdiction can be waived when the two overlapping Grand Lodges are themselves in amity and agree to share jurisdiction. For example, since the Grand Lodge of Connecticut
22168-472: The same responsibilities as chief tithingmen and additionally as royal officers. The constable was elected by his parish every year. Eventually, constables became the first 'police' official to be tax-supported. In urban areas, watchmen were tasked with keeping order and enforcing nighttime curfew. Watchmen guarded the town gates at night, patrolled the streets, arrested those on the streets at night without good reason, and also acted as firefighters. Eventually
22331-420: The so-called Peelian principles , which set down basic guidelines for ethical policing: The Metropolitan Police Act 1829 created a modern police force by limiting the purview of the force and its powers and envisioning it as merely an organ of the judicial system. Their job was apolitical; to maintain the peace and apprehend criminals for the courts to process according to the law. This was very different from
22494-489: The start of the Second World War in 1939, the SS had effectively gained complete operational control over the German Police, although outwardly the SS and Police still functioned as separate entities. The Ordnungspolizei maintained its own system of insignia and Orpo ranks as well as distinctive police uniforms. Under an SS directive known as the "Rank Parity Decree", policemen were highly encouraged to join
22657-399: The state against foreign aggressors; however, gendarmerie are military units charged with civil policing. Police forces are usually public sector services, funded through taxes. Law enforcement is only part of policing activity. Policing has included an array of activities in different situations, but the predominant ones are concerned with the preservation of order. In some societies, in
22820-579: The stolen property. They were private individuals usually hired by crime victims. The earliest English use of the word police seems to have been the term Polles mentioned in the book The Second Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England published in 1642. The first example of a statutory police force in the world was probably the High Constables of Edinburgh , formed in 1611 to police
22983-508: The streets of Edinburgh , then part of the Kingdom of Scotland . The constables, of whom half were merchants and half were craftsmen, were charged with enforcing 16 regulations relating to curfews, weapons, and theft. At that time, maintenance of public order in Scotland was mainly done by clan chiefs and feudal lords. The first centrally organised and uniformed police force was created by the government of King Louis XIV in 1667 to police
23146-619: The streets, keeping the peace, and making arrests when necessary. The yoriki were responsible for managing the dōshin . Yoriki and dōshin were typically drawn from low-ranking samurai families. Assisting the dōshin were the komono , non-Samurai chōnin who went on patrol with them and provided assistance, the okappiki , non-Samurai from the lowest outcast class, often former criminals, who worked for them as informers and spies, and gōyokiki or meakashi , chōnin, often former criminals, who were hired by local residents and merchants to work as police assistants in
23309-479: The surrounding areas, the Medjay were used throughout Upper and Lower Egypt . Each regional unit had its own captain. The police forces of ancient Egypt did not guard rural communities, which often took care of their own judicial problems by appealing to village elders, but many of them had a constable to enforce state laws. In ancient Greece , publicly owned slaves were used by magistrates as police. In Athens ,
23472-662: The task of the Gestapo was combating espionage and political dissent . On 27 September 1939, the SS security service, the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and the SiPo were folded into the Reich Security Main Office ( Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA). The RSHA symbolised the close connection between the SS (a party organisation) and the police (a state organisation). In broad terms, Himmler pursued
23635-496: The time for staging robberies in order to receive the reward. In 1737, George II began paying some London and Middlesex watchmen with tax monies, beginning the shift to government control. In 1749, Judge Henry Fielding began organizing a force of quasi-professional constables known as the Bow Street Runners . The Bow Street Runners are considered to have been Britain's first dedicated police force. They represented
23798-476: The town treasury. The Talmud also mentions city watchmen and mounted and armed watchmen in the suburbs. In many regions of pre-colonial Africa , particularly West and Central Africa, guild-like secret societies emerged as law enforcement. In the absence of a court system or written legal code, they carried out police-like activities, employing varying degrees of coercion to enforce conformity and deter antisocial behavior. In ancient Ethiopia , armed retainers of
23961-559: The town, there were officers for every tribe. The temple in Jerusalem had special temple police to guard it. The Talmud mentions various local police officials in the Jewish communities of the Land of Israel and Babylon who supervised economic activity. Their Greek-sounding titles suggest that the roles were introduced under Hellenic influence. Most of these officials received their authority from local courts and their salaries were drawn from
24124-480: The towns and villages to protect their subjects from crime. Various inscriptions and literature from ancient India suggest that a variety of roles existed for law enforcement officials such as those of a constable, thief catcher, watchman, and detective. In ancient India up to medieval and early modern times, kotwals were in charge of local law enforcement. The Achaemenid Empire had well-organized police forces. A police force existed in every place of importance. In
24287-606: The tradition, it does not have a presence in every country. In the spirit of brotherhood and hopefulness, however, Freemasons usually presume that clandestine lodges may nonetheless exist in those countries in which it is banned, even if they may not actually exist. The degrees of Freemasonry are the three grades of medieval craft guilds : Entered Apprentice , Journeyman or Fellow of the craft (now called either “Fellowcraft” or “Fellow Craft” in English speaking jurisdictions, and “Companion” in non-English speaking jurisdictions), and Master Mason . The candidate of these three degrees
24450-507: The twelfth century against banditry and other rural criminals, and against the lawless nobility or to support one or another claimant to a crown. These organizations were intended to be temporary, but became a long-standing fixture of Spain. The first recorded case of the formation of an hermandad occurred when the towns and the peasantry of the north united to police the pilgrim road to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia , and protect
24613-443: The uniform was deliberately manufactured in blue, rather than red which was then a military colour, along with the officers being armed only with a wooden truncheon and a rattle to signal the need for assistance. Along with this, police ranks did not include military titles, with the exception of Sergeant . To distance the new police force from the initial public view of it as a new tool of government repression, Peel publicised
24776-404: The use of force legitimized by the state via the monopoly on violence . The term is most commonly associated with the police forces of a sovereign state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility. Police forces are often defined as being separate from the military and other organizations involved in the defense of
24939-646: Was also known as the Maréchaussée , or, formally, the Constabulary and Marshalcy of France. In late medieval Italian cities, police forces were known as berovierri . Individually, their members were known as birri . Subordinate to the city's podestà , the berovierri were responsible for guarding the cities and their suburbs, patrolling, and the pursuit and arrest of criminals. They were typically hired on short-term contracts, usually six months. Detailed records from medieval Bologna show that birri had
25102-404: Was first held by Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie , who had 44 commissaires de police ('police commissioners') under his authority. In 1709, these commissioners were assisted by inspecteurs de police ('police inspectors'). The city of Paris was divided into 16 districts policed by the commissaires , each assigned to a particular district and assisted by a growing bureaucracy. The scheme of
25265-670: Was further reformed during the New Kingdom period. Police officers served as interrogators, prosecutors, and court bailiffs, and were responsible for administering punishments handed down by judges. In addition, there were special units of police officers trained as priests who were responsible for guarding temples and tombs and preventing inappropriate behavior at festivals or improper observation of religious rites during services. Other police units were tasked with guarding caravans, guarding border crossings, protecting royal necropolises , guarding slaves at work or during transport, patrolling
25428-403: Was nominally subordinate to Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick . However, the decree effectively subordinated the police to the SS . Himmler gained authority as all of Germany's uniformed law enforcement agencies were amalgamated into the new Ordnungspolizei , whose main office became populated by officers of the SS . The police were divided into the Ordnungspolizei (Orpo or order police) and
25591-443: Was organized, uniformed and armed like a military unit and was responsible for interventions against various crimes and the arrest of suspected criminals. These guards were assisted by the military, fire patrolmen, and a civilian unit that did not wear a uniform, but instead wore a small badge around the neck. The civilian unit monitored compliance with city ordinances relating to e.g. sanitation issues, traffic and taxes. In rural areas,
25754-518: Was replaced by the Sydney Foot Police in 1790. In New South Wales , rural law enforcement officials were appointed by local justices of the peace during the early to mid-19th century and were referred to as "bench police" or "benchers". A mounted police force was formed in 1825. Freemasons Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry ) or simply Masonry includes various fraternal organisations that trace their origins to
25917-424: Was required to participate in a tithing. Members of tithings were responsible for raising "hue and cry" upon witnessing or learning of a crime, and the men of his tithing were responsible for capturing the criminal. The person the tithing captured would then be brought before the chief tithingman, who would determine guilt or innocence and punishment. All members of the criminal's tithing would be responsible for paying
26080-656: Was responsible for investigating petty crimes and carrying out arrests. In ancient Egypt evidence of law enforcement exists as far back as the Old Kingdom period . There are records of an office known as "Judge Commandant of the Police" dating to the fourth dynasty . During the fifth dynasty at the end of the Old Kingdom period, warriors armed with wooden sticks were tasked with guarding public places such as markets, temples, and parks, and apprehending criminals. They are known to have made use of trained monkeys, baboons, and dogs in guard duties and catching criminals. After
26243-427: Was to act as bodyguards to magistrates who held imperium , could carry out arrests and inflict punishments at their magistrate's command. Magistrates such as tresviri capitales , procurators fiscal and quaestors investigated crimes. There was no concept of public prosecution, so victims of crime or their families had to organize and manage the prosecution themselves. Under the reign of Augustus , when
26406-402: Was to be increased in 1720 when, after the end of the War of the Spanish Succession and the consequent rise of criminal offenses, the government offered £100 for the conviction of a highwayman. Although the offer of such a reward was conceived as an incentive for the victims of an offense to proceed to the prosecution and to bring criminals to justice, the efforts of the government also increased
26569-427: Was under the overall control of Reichsführer-SS Himmler as Chief of the German Police in the Ministry of the Interior. It was initially commanded by SS- Oberstgruppenführer und Generaloberst der Polizei Kurt Daluege . In May 1943, Daluege had a massive heart attack and was removed from duty. He was replaced by SS- Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS und der Polizei Alfred Wünnenberg , who served until
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