Policing for Profit: How Urban Municipalities' Focus on Revenue Has Undermined Law Enforcement Legitmacy
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POLICING FOR PROFIT: HOW URBAN
MUNICIPALITIES' FOCUS ON REVENUE HAS
UNDERMINED LAW ENFORCEMENT
LEGITIMACY
Robert A. McBride*
I. INTRODUCTION
Today's modem police force has deep roots in the Anglo-
American tradition, dating back to the sheriffs of the English shires.I
The duties and functions of modem law enforcement, however,
differ greatly from their medieval counterparts.2 The evolution of
law enforcement functions can be directly traced to the rise of the
progressive administrative state and the proliferation of literally
countless laws, regulations, and ordinances at the federal, state, and
local levels.3 No longer merely keepers of the peace,4 today's police
officers are tasked with innumerable duties5 - some, contradictory
with each other.6 Nowhere can these contradictions be more acutely
J.D., Faulkner University, Thomas Goode Jones School of Law (2018).
McMillian v. Monroe Cty, Ala., 520 U.S. 781, 794 (1997) (explaining that
English sheriffs were the King's agents in the shires, or counties, and although
elected locally were keeper[s] of the kings peace.).
2 See discussion infra Section II.A.
See discussion infra Section II.B.
4 See City of Chicago v. Morales, 527 U.S. 41, 106-08 (1999) (Thomas, J.,
dissenting) (In most American jurisdictions, police officers continue to be
obligated, by law, to maintain the public peace.).
'See People v. De Bour, 352 N.E.2d 562, 568 (N.Y. 1976) ([T]he police perform
the lion's share of services expected of local government. [W]ell over 50% of
police work is spent in pursuits unrelated to crime.).
6 See People v. Ray, 981 P.2d 928, 933-35 (1999) (noting that police have
complex and multiple tasks to perform and in addition to traditional crime-
solving activities, they have diverse duties collectively referred to as community
caretaking functions in which Fourth Amendment protections do not always
apply); see also Erik Luna, The Overcriminalization Problem, 54 AM. U. L. REV.
703, 708 (2005) (Congress has adopted repetitive and overlapping statutes ... .).
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Policing for Profit: How Urban Municipalities' Focus on Revenue Has Undermined Law Enforcement Legitmacy
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