There are an estimated 800,000 full-time law enforcement officers in the United States: 120,000 Federal and 620,000 State and local.
That breaks down to 1 Fed for every 2,500 citizens, and one cop for every 375 citizens. Contrast that with this article about the Stasi and Gestapo:
The Soviet Union’s KGB employed about 480,000 full-time agents to oversee a nation of 280 million, which means there was one agent per 5,830 citizens. Using Wiesenthal’s figures for the Nazi Gestapo, there was one officer for 2,000 people. The ratio for the Stasi was one secret policeman per 166 East Germans.
(even though the math for the Soviets is incorrect)
We have ratios of police versus citizens that is more than that of the Soviet communists, and rivals that of the Gestapo.
But we don’t live in a police state. This is a free country, after all.
2 Comments
TOTWTYTR · October 9, 2011 at 1:59 am
Neither of those nations had due process, which means you need fewer police officers to control the population. They also had pervasive spying, far worse than anything people complain about in this country.
I think in free, non police state, nation, you ironically need more police.
Or you can just control your population with terror.
Divemedic · October 10, 2011 at 12:05 pm
We are working on that. "If you see something, say something."
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