In Scotland the organization of an efficient police in the large towns dates from 1833, when a statute was passed enabling burghs to estab lish a general system of police. The strength of the Scottish police forces was 5,952 in 1916, of whom 2,100 belonged to county forces and 3,852 to city and burgh forces.
In Ireland, previous to 1814, the police was in a very disordered condition. In that year a law was passed by which some minor improve ments were effected. The act of 1836 and its subsequent modifications in 1848 and 1857 have greatly improved the police. In 1867 the title of Royal Irish Constabulary was conferred on the force by royal command. This force in 1916 numbered 9,860 and was organized on a semi-military plan. They live in barracks and are armed with rifles, swords and other weap ons. They are under the immediate authority of the government in Ireland, and are controlled by an inspector-general. The city of Dublin and its suburbs, with an area of 32 square miles, is under a separate police force, known as the Dublin Metropolitan Police. The strength of the force in 1916 was 1,143.
In the United States the provisions for the repression of crime and the detection and ar rest of criminals were copied from those of Great Britain. New York was the first of the cities to have a police force organized similarly to that previously adopted in London. The or dinary police of a city are dressed in a particu lar uniform. The secret police, more commonly known as detectives, are not uniformed. The regulation and control of the police in a city is usually in the hands of the municipal au thorities, and the cost of their maintenance is paid out of the local taxes. In New York City
a division of the force is known as harbor po lice, and there are police boats for their con venience in patrolling the harbor. In Washing ton there exists a special force known as capitol police, employed by the government to patrol the buildings and grounds of the National Capitol. In most large cities there are squads of sanitary police and in some smaller towns volunteer bodies of citizens are organized under the name of fire-police. The secret police of the United States government are known as secret service agents.
Military police constitute an organized and uniformed body of men attached to the army for the maintenance of civil order, as distin guished from military discipline. After the United States was forced into the World War a number of large cities organised women police to look after minor infractions of law, and also a body of reserve police to aid in re pressing outbreaks, because of the shortage of the regular police who had entered the army. The varied functions of the police in the United States are specifically set forth in State and municipal enactments. In brief, it may be stated that if the police of a municipality are unable to cope with a disturbance the sheriff of the county may be called on for aid; if the sheriff cannot suppress a trouble, after he has read aloud the not act, ordered a mob to dis perse and summoned civilians to his aid, he may appeal to the governor of the State for a military force; and should the latter prove in effectual, the governor may call upon the Secre tary of War for reinforcements from the regu lar army. See SECRET SERVICE; also CONSTABLE; DETECTIVE.