True Output

Why do we not have nor do we want a national police force?

Law Enforement is primarily the responsibility of local governments (77% of the nations police employees work at the local level). Why do we not have nor do we want a national police force?

Public Comments

1. we have one. http://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm
2. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
3. What is the FBI?, if not a federal police force. My personal feeling is that the more govt. agencies we have the more money is wasted. God Bless
4. FBI? CIA?
5. There cannot be law enforcement at government levels due to the fact every state has to some degree different laws then their neighbors. Not to mention this is not an issue and law enforcement is not primarily the responsibility of local governments. The primary responsibility of enforcing law falls to the hands of the people.
6. A national P.D. would be mandated to enforce federal immigration law along with everyting else. Somehow no one wants this.
7. i thought that would be the fbi and cia
8. Great question. The answer is in the 10th Amendment which gives all powers not specifically delegated to the federal government by the constitution to the states. Think of it this way, the federal constitution can only specifically give powers whereas state constitutions limit powers. The reason for that is that the federal government was always intended to be limited for fear of a tyrannical overlord in D.C., which we have anyway. Bottom line, states get to do anything not specifically prohibited by the Constitution. As such, states have a ton of leeway to set up their own criminal law, even where that law overlaps with federal law. A good example would be drug laws where, with enough quantity, you could end up in either system. Because the federal constitution does not grant the federal government the power to regulate all things in every state there cannot be an absolute U.S. Law that covers everything from DUI to murder. That means that states are left to set up their own laws and individually trained police are required. While it is true that there are national police forces, DEA, FBI, etc., these only exist by specific grant through congress and because the U.S. constitution allows the federal government to regulate what is "necessary and proper" (a clause in the U.S. Constitution) and effects "commerce" (another clause in the constitution. The logic behind all this is that, when the country was set up, the individual states all felt that they were unique cultures and were unwilling to surrender that to one government that didn't understand them. This is still largely true when you compare states like New York, Georgia, Alaska and Hawaii. All very different places, almost different countries, which are essentially better off governing and policing themselves.
9. when you say we...you are assuming everone on here is american. "WE" have one...RCMP.