Policing Quotes

“Always, the goal is to defuse, not to escalate. And to gain compliance, not to punish.”

“A rigid application of the exclusionary rule... can neither logically contribute to the deterrence of Fourth Amendment violations nor advance the cause of justice.”

“There's a reason we're called the thin blue line.”

“We're not a military force, but we are a paramilitary force.”

“The 'broken windows' theory of policing is based on the idea that if you stop the small things, you can prevent the big things.”

“A city is a living organism, and a police department is its immune system.”

“We may be finding that in some blacks when it is applied the veins or arteries do not open up as fast as they do on normal people.”

“The capacity of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of their actions and behaviour.”

“The police can't be everywhere, and they can't solve all problems. But they can be a symbol of order.”

“The police are not here to create disorder, they're here to preserve disorder.”

“I have been on a few demonstrations and I have seen the police get it wrong.”

“The police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.”

“The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.”