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.
Policing has included an array of activities in different situations, but the predominant ones are concerned with the preservation of order. Law enforcement is only part of policing activity. Police forces are usually public sector services, funded through taxes. Police forces are often defined as being separate from the military and other organizations involved in the defense of the state against foreign aggressors however, gendarmerie are military units charged with civil policing. The term is most commonly associated with the police forces of a sovereign state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility.
Their lawful powers include arrest and the use of force legitimized by the state via the monopoly on violence. The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder.
