The deputies are authorised to use limited force to protect themselves and others where a present danger of harm exists. They may not use excessive force to restrain citizens who may be accused, nor may they hold citizens in detention without reasonable cause, and only then for a short time, empowered to do so by a judicial authority.

The presence of a policeman is reassurance that the rights of citizens will be protected. It must not suggest that he will himself represent a potential for harm. No citizen need fear a police officer, nor approach police business with apprehension. A report to the police that a dangerous condition exists or that a law has been broken should bring a prompt response.

The organization by the citizens of a police force represents a danger to the people who deputize them. The police may subsequently abuse their authority to become a law unto themselves. To prevent this, the citizens must provide oversight in the form of elected representatives whose sole duty is to ensure the police do not overstep their power, and to prevent any other authority from misusing the police to aid in carrying out illegal activities.

Honour among thieves

If the elected representatives of the people engage in illegal activities, this soon comes to the attention of the police. The police have an investigatory arm, and their files contain much that politicians strive to keep secret. Politicians who have things to hide are therefore afraid of the police.

If the police themselves are ordered by elected representatives to protect lawbreakers or carry out other illegal activities, a conspiracy arises in which neither side can reveal the truth. Out of this relationship there arises what is known as "honour among thieves." It is far from honour.

The politicians thus come to fear the police, and the police immediately detect that they have acquired a power over the politicians. This leads to insufferable arrogance and cruelty. This is becaus the police know the the politicians will protect them from any punishment.

The politicians have authority to prosecute and punish policemen who will not participate in this continuing conspiracy, so there is pressure on all policemen to join and participate. Refusal results in retribution. An honest policeman cannot be allowed inside, thus all become suspect, and public respect for police authority degrades to fear and derision.

Once this pattern of patronage of the police begins, reinforced by fear of public awareness, the entire country enters a new form of government known as "the police state."

In a police state the elected representatives of the people no longer have total control of the police forces of the country. The police are feared because they know too much. When the elected representatives once use the police authority to arrest and detain their political opponents the pattern is set.

It soon becomes obvious to all that fundamental freedoms have been lost. Security for the individual is now at the whim of the politicians. None are comfortable with this state of affairs. But it is too late.

The elected representatives will use the police authority to corrupt all branches of government, especially the judiciary and the election machinery. In this way all avenues of redress are removed from the people.

When the citizens ask questions, neither the police nor the representatives will answer. They arrogantly ignore all attempts to correct the system they control, and act in an illegal and repressive manner to stifle all dissent. Though a natural idealism delays immediate reaction, frustration inevitably mounts, and where peaceful solutions cannot be found, violence is the consequence.

Immoral and illegal

A peaceful confrontation usually occurs in countries with an educated electorate, who will demand fair elections in which the entire police state apparatus is replaced. In an effort to retain power the incumbents will use the police, the military and the judiciary.

The number of corrupt politicians is usually small, often less than one hundred, and thus it is not difficult to replace them, once the police and the military become convinced that change is inevitable and that their continued support of the corrupt system is not only immoral and illegal, but will certainly find them at fault. Many hopelessly compromised will attempt to avoid punishment by flight.

In a country where the basic freedoms of assembly, press, speech and trial by jury are absent, a police state is also found. Once begun, like inflation, the corruption of democratic institutions feeds on itself, growing exponentially.

For this reason the police state must be vigorously opposed. The problem is easier to correct in the early stages. Once a police state becomes institutionalised, an entire generation or more will become inured to its methods, and like organised crime, it tends to become a way of life.

Recovery from such an experience in some countries takes several generations, but in others, where the needed changes are effected quickly, and a strong spiritual orientation is present, the guidance it provides is a great aid in restoring a healthy and happy country.

In these cases the damage can be repaired more quickly. Some societies will not tolerate a police state, while others suffer interminably with a shrug of resignation.