(A.C.A.B. is an acronym meaning "All Cops Are Bastards")
Police, past present perfect
Each country has its own story of policing, and it’s essential to know the differences. Since I grew up in the Netherlands, I will start there.
It is hard to pinpoint the exact moment when the police force (as we know it today) was created in the Netherlands. I found it even harder to define an origin. According to the government website police.nl “De Nederlandse politiegeschiedenis begint in 1581, bij de vorming van de Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden.” (Dutch police history begins in 1581, with the formation of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.), but I think that this is a huge overstatement. I will start this story in the 1750s. In bigger cities, the policing forces went by the names of schout (magistrate? Google translate, help me!) and their rakkers (pickles? no, that can’t be right!). These rakkers were helpers and somewhat comparable to the police agents nowadays. The schouts worked directly for the municipality and used to be more like detectives. Maintaining the public order was done by militia and the night watchman. It’s all on the official police academia website. See: painting Rembrandt van Rijn. In reality, they weren’t dressed as nicely as they were painted, and weren’t carrying guns either. The night watch was equipped with a wooden stick and a ‘klepper’. A Klepper is a rotating hammer on a wooden stick that functioned as an alarm.
They didn’t earn much. The militia was only called when needed, not regularly and had another job in everyday life. The militia consisted of regular citizens, next-door neighbours who were primarily and above all carpenters, smiths or salesmen, that worked in a shop or tavern. And no one really wanted to work the low-paid night shifts, so the night watch occupation was taken by those who otherwise couldn’t make a living. They were looked down upon. If citizens protested, for example, the army was called instead.
This changed when France came and conquered the Netherlands. The French history of policing is quite different because police already existed there. King Lodewijk the XIVth liked the army so much that he employed them everywhere. This French police shared the king’s command. They were armed with guns and horses. In 1793, the French announced war on the Dutch republic of the United Netherlands. General Napoleon gained power shortly after, and by 1810 the Netherlands belonged to France. The Dutch could apply for their police job, and some gladly did so even though the French police army wasn’t liked very much. “It was too French.” The Netherlands were free again by 1813. Prince Willem van Oranje moved back from Great Britain to the Netherlands that November and was instated as king. He obviously couldn’t keep the much-hated French policing system, even though he would have liked that very much. He changed their name. 26th of October 1814, signed the birth of the Royal Marechaussee. Their first post (police station) rose in Maastricht.
164 others followed across the south of the country before 1815. They patrolled day- and night. Horses need breaks, and these uniforms were not resistant to rain, but they were well equipped with a sabre, pistol and carbine. The Royal Marechaussee didn’t shy away from using rough force and violence against the king’s citizens that wouldn’t obey their orders. These police militias were generally employed for 6 years and never punished like ordinary citizens (they were soldiers, right?!). The north of the Netherlands had different minions of the law. This policing force had no investigative powers, did not wear a uniform and was not sworn by any oath. They very much worked just like they did before the French occupied them.
Slowly, very slowly, the order of policing changed. The Dutch government was inspired by Great Britain’s police enforcement, and they started copying their way around the 1840s/1850s; uniforms, swords, top hats and all. Schooling wasn’t needed; no issue if you hadn’t finished your primary school, and could read and wri