# Could the federal government ban state and local police forces?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-federal-government-ban-state-and-local-police-forces/471468>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [November 6, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-federal-government-ban-state-and-local-police-forces/471468 "2008-11-06T16:38:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-federal-government-ban-state-and-local-police-forces/471468/21 "2008-11-09T01:04:45Z")

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> [@BrightNShiny](#):
>
> Ah, ok. So, I guess you’re asking whether the Feds could ban modern police forces, rather than whether the Feds could ban state/local law enforcement? Is that correct?

Pretty much, or perhaps more precisely: is the mention of “troops” in A1S10C3 intended to mean any institution of professional armed personnel permanently in the service of the state? Were the states meant to expressly rely on armed citizens, summoned for the purpose into posses or militias, to maintain public order?

I still would like a more rigorous answer to how to reconcile A1S10C3 with the 2nd, with regard to “militias” vs. “troops”.

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**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-federal-government-ban-state-and-local-police-forces/471468/22 "2008-11-10T03:16:00Z")

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> [@Giles](#):
>
> IANAL, but I would estimate the chances of the Supreme Court accepting this argument are zero.
> 
> (1) Police are not troops.
> 
> (2) States have powers reserved to them, so they are entitled to have police to enforce their policies and laws with respect to those powers.

It wouldn’t matter what the Supreme Court said because if they agreed they would be the first casualties in a very quick civil war.

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**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-federal-government-ban-state-and-local-police-forces/471468/23 "2008-11-10T03:28:31Z")

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By “Federal Government”, do you mean the Senators and Representatives that depend on our votes to receive and retain their jobs?

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**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-federal-government-ban-state-and-local-police-forces/471468/24 "2008-11-10T15:13:02Z")

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> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> By “Federal Government”, do you mean the Senators and Representatives that depend on our votes to receive and retain their jobs?

I did say “snowball in Hell’s chance” in the OP. Though by the argument that police=troops, they would _already_ be unconstitutional, and could only continue if Congress magnaminously gave their permission. But that amounts to the same thing re your question.

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-federal-government-ban-state-and-local-police-forces/471468/25 "2008-11-10T16:56:13Z")

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The State of NY “banned” the NYC “Municipal” PD in 1854 and replaced it with the Metropolitan PD. For a while NYC had two PD’s.

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**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-federal-government-ban-state-and-local-police-forces/471468/26 "2008-11-10T17:42:20Z")

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And they served different political parties. Man, great times. Covered in Gangs of New York, if briefly.

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