Talk:Police

The first real police & the status of gendarmerie
The Metropolitan Police Service founded in Britain in 1829 is often called the first modern police (or sometimes even just the first "real police". This is because it was both expressly meant to be civilian in character, i.e. independent of the military, and it specializes in criminal investigation. I personally have always seen crediting the London police as the first real police to be a sort of Anglo-centric bias however. This is because France clearly already had a sort of organization dedicated to criminal investigation by the time of the French Revolution and because various organizations, like the Medjay, served in capacities akin to that of police throughout history. I was therefore reluctant to include this sort of detail that the London police are commonly cited as the "first real police" in the article when I first wrote it, but I had bet that somewhere in Syndicate, this was probably mentioned.

At this moment, however, I cannot find where this was mentioned anymore, and I am no longer sure that it does mention this. As a result, I am not sure if it is even something we should mention ourselves. Certainly, if it were my own work entirely, I would avoid it altogether. However, it might be an significant detail in the history of policing that it should be mentioned. At the same time, I'm not sure if it can be verified in an Assassin's Creed source anymore.

Apart from this, I wanted to explain that I had originally worded the article in such a way as to account for this. If I had written it in chronological order of events, where the Metropolitan Police Service's status as the "first modern police" is mentioned last, this may give it to strongly as a non-objectionable fact. On the other hand, adding the word "controversionally" or "contentiously" to the statement may steer too close to original research or personal opinion. I therefore re-ordered it to before the mention of the fledgling Parisian criminal investigation organization that Arno aided in Unity and which came into full fruition under Vidocq. I am not sure this is ideal, but I am explaining my reasoning.

On the topic of ordering events, I am aware that this line, "Centuries later, military guards were often garrisoned within a city for its defense", was placed at the end of the first paragraph because it originally took Assassin's Creed II to III as references, which is after Origins, but the general point of guards serving in this role can extend back to the very beginning of human history.

Finally, in regards to the National Guard being police, my initial reaction to that is that I did not think that the National Guard of the French Revolution were necessarily the same as the modern  that they have evolved into. However, Wikipedia, at least, mentions that the National Guard were intended from the start as a police force independent of the military in service to the people. I am not sure if this can be verified with an Assassin's Creed source however.

All this speaks to the contention in defining "police". The continental European concept of the gendarmerie tends to stand on the line between military and civilian law enforcement which is why, in the English language, they are sometimes not seen as properly police, but I am of the opinion that this is more of a cultural distinction. Sol Pacificus (Cyfiero) 19:25, December 22, 2019 (UTC)