’The police are the public and the public are the police.’ Robert Peel

The founder of the British police was Home Secretary, later Prime Minister, Robert Peel. A key concept was that the police were to be no more than ‘citizens in uniform’, as opposed to soldiers. This idea has now been so eroded as to be meaningless. The modern police officer in central London, who carries a sub-machine gun and automatic pistol is very obviously something more than a member of the public. He belongs rather to a paramilitary force.