POLICE

Police Is the function of that branch of the administrative machinery of government which Is charged with the preservation of public order and tranquillity, the promotion of the public health, safety, and morals, and the prevention, detection, and punishment of crimes. The police of a state, in a comprehensive sense, embraces its whole system of internal regulation, by which the state seeks not only to preserve the public order and to prevent offenses against the state, but also to establish for the intercourse of citizen with citizen those rules of good manners and good neighborhood which are calculated to prevent a conflict of rights, and to insure to each the uninterrupted enjoyment of his own, so far as is reasonably consistent with a like enjoyment of rights by others. Cooley, Const. Lim. 572. It is defined by Jeremy Bentham in his works: “Police is in general a system of precaution, either for the prevention of crime or of calamities. Its business may be distributed into eight distinct branches: {1) Police for the prevention of offenses; (2) police for the prevention of calamities; (3) police for the prevention of epidemic diseases; (4) police of charity; (5) police of interior communications; (6) police of public amusements; (7) police for recent intelligence; (8) police for registration.” Canal Com’rs v. Willamette Transp. Co., 6 Or. 222. Police court. The name of a kind of inferior court in several of the states, which has a summary jurisdiction over minor offenses and misdemeanors of small consequence, and the powers of a committing magistrate in respect to more serious crimes, and, in some states, a limited jurisdiction for the trial of civil causes. In English law. Courts in which stipendiary magistrates, chosen from barristers of a certain standing, sit for the dispatch of business. Their general duties and powers are the same as those of the unpaid magistracy, except that one of them may usually act in cases which would require to be heard before two other justices. Wharton. Police de ohargement. Fr. In French law. A bill of lading. Ord. Mar. liv. 3, tit. 2. Police jury, in Louisiana, is the designation of the board of officers in a parish corresponding to the commissioners or supervisors of a county in other states. Police justice. A magistrate charged exclusively with the duties incident to the common law office of a. conservator or justice of the peace; the prefix “police” serving merely to distinguish them from justices having also civil jurisdiction. Wenzler v. People, 58 N. Y. 530. Police magistrate. See Magistrate. Police officer. One of the staff of men employed in cities and towns to enforce the municipal police, t. e., the laws and ordinances for preserving the peace and good order of the community. Otherwise called “policeman.”Police power. The power vested in a state to establish laws and ordinances for the regulation and enforcement of its police as above defined. The power vested in the legislature to make, ordain, and establish all manner of wholesome and reasonable laws, statutes, and ordinances, either with penalties or without, not repugnant to the constitution, as they shall judge to be for the good and welfare of the commonwealth, and of the subjects of the same. Com. v. Alger, 7 Cush. (Mass.) 85. The police power of the state is an authority conferred by the American constitutional system upon the individual states, through which they are enabled to establish a special department of police; adopt such regulations as tend to prevent the commission of fraud, violence, or other offenses against the state; aid in the arrest of criminals; and secure generally the comfort, health, and prosperity of the state, by preserving the public order, preventing a conflict of rights in the common intercourse of the citizens, and insuring to each an uninterrupted enjoyment of all the privileges conferred upon him by the laws of his country. Lalor, Pol. Enc. a. v. It is true that the legislation which secures to all protection in their rights, and the equal use and enjoyment of their property, embraces an almost infinite variety of subjects. Whatever affects the peace, good order, morals, and health of the community comes within its scope; and every one must use and enjoy his property subject to the restrictions which such legislation imposes. What is termed the “police power” of the state, which, from the language often used respecting it, one would suppose to be an undefined and irresponsible element in government, can only interfere with the conduct of individuals in their intercourse with each other, and in the use of their property, so far as may be required to secure these objects. Police regulations. Laws of a state, or ordinances of a municipality, which have for their object the preservation and protection of public peace and good order, and of the health, morals, and security of the people. Police supervision. In England, subjection to police supervision is where a criminal offender is subjected to the obligation of notifying the place of his residence and every change of his residence to the chief officer of police of the district, and of reporting himself once a month to the chief officer or his substitute. Offenders subject to police supervision are popularly called “habitual criminals.”‘ Sweet.