Worksheet: Definitions: Police in a Democracy
The following is a series of open-ended questions that lead on to the issues raised in subsequent sections.
- Do we need a police institution because people cannot be trusted to behave and to be good, responsible citizens? Ask the students to imagine what might happen if there was no police institution.
- Following on from the description of the changes in policing given in the background notes on the Police Service, you might ask the students to consider whether the police institution only came into being because ordinary citizens no longer wished to perform community tasks such as watchman or constable. Do police officers merely do, therefore, what ordinary citizens no longer have the time and inclination to do?
- If the students could start from scratch, how would they ensure that other people’s property was respected and protected? Particularly that of the very young, the very old, the blind, and the disabled.
More questions:
Preface
Introduction
The Police Service
Police/Public Relations
Order on the Roads
Equality and Gender
Resources
Acknowledgements