June 20, 2013
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The week's top five must-sees,
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Description
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by the state to enforce the law, protect property, and limit civil disorder. Their powers include the legitimized use of force. The term is most commonly associated with police services of a state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility. Police forces are often defined as being separate from military or other organizations involved in the defense of the state against foreign aggressors; however, gendarmerie are military units charged with civil policing.
Law enforcement, however, constitutes only part of policing activity. Policing has included an array of activities in different situations, but the predominant ones are concerned with the preservation of order. In some societies, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, these developed within the context of maintaining the class system and the protection of private property. Some parts of the world may suffer from police corruption.
Alternative names for police force include constabulary, gendarmerie, police department, police service, crime prevention, protective services, law enforcement agency, civil guard or civic guard. Members may be referred to as police officers, troopers, sheriffs, constables, rangers, peace officers or civic/civil guards. Police of the Soviet-era Eastern Europe were called the militsiya. The Irish police are called the Garda Síochána; a police officer is called a garda. And although the word "police" comes from Greek, the Greek police is Αστυνομία.
(via Freebase)
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![Iraq: 27 police officers wounded in armed attack [Future TV, Lebanon]](/images/image_cache/base-1462000/1462198/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=190fdec7f99cc1483fe36ab6f5fca480)
![Bahrain blocks return to Martyrs' Square on revolt anniversary [Al Jazeera, Qatar]](/images/image_cache/base-741000/741245/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=b151f1310f5231fa5eff0e9693fc8615 "An anti-government protester stands in front of riot police marching towards him during a protest that attempted to march back to Al Farook Junction, formally known as Pearl Square, in the village of Sanabis, west of Manama, February 14, 2012: REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed")
