This Thanksgiving, be thankful for cops
Posted By Jeff Roorda On 11/24/2016 @ 5:22 pm In APP Frontpage,Commentary,Opinion | No Comments
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Three-hundred and 80 years ago, the Pilgrims at the Plymouth colony published the 1636 Book of Laws and authorized the local militia to enforce that criminal code creating, essentially, the first police department in America.
Times were simpler then. The laws in ye olde Plymouth town combined church dicta and English common law to combat, mostly, crimes of moral turpitude like public intoxication, gambling and fornication. Offenses like drive-by shootings and selling crack cocaine were considerably less common. Whatever the crime, the punishment was swift and certain – and very, very, harsh.
Crimes like arson, rape and even smiting your parent were punishable by death. The settlement’s general court enacted the laws, passed judgment and carried out the punishment. More than just judge, jury and executioner, they were also the legislative body for the colony. Plymouth’s fledgling government was ardently devoted to law and order and to those who enforced it.
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