# How large does a town have to be in order to require a police department? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 11, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-large-does-a-town-have-to-be-in-order-to-require-a-police-department/624852 "2012-06-11T20:49:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-large-does-a-town-have-to-be-in-order-to-require-a-police-department/624852/21 "2012-06-12T15:11:49Z")
The town I live in had about 1500 people and contracts with the county for 40 hours per week of enforcement (meaning the deputy is actually in town those hours). Any major (heh) crime is handled apart from that. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-large-does-a-town-have-to-be-in-order-to-require-a-police-department/624852/22 "2012-06-12T15:50:52Z")
Like \*\* Sudden Kestrel\*\* said, many smaller towns, like mine, don’t have their own police department, but contract with the county Sheriff’s department for coverage. I bet this isn’t uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-large-does-a-town-have-to-be-in-order-to-require-a-police-department/624852/23 "2012-06-12T16:21:04Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > There are always outsiders coming in town to deal with. There is no minimum population requirement for an incorporated town in many if not most states. One person can serve as Sheriff, Postmaster, store owner and everything else. You would need at least 2 people before you could have an internal affairs department though, right? ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-large-does-a-town-have-to-be-in-order-to-require-a-police-department/624852/24 "2012-06-12T17:40:56Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > In Canada, the default police force is federal (the famous [Mounties](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Canadian_Mounted_Police)). > > Provinces may have their own police forces to handle provincial policing; otherwise, they contract with the federal police to provide provincial policing. In turn, cities and regions may have _their_ own police forces; otherwise they contract with the provincial or federal police. I don’t know whether a city could contract with the federal police for local duties in a province with provincial police. > > So the Mounties are somewhat unusual in having divisions that handle everything from currency fraud and patrolling federally-regulated installations like airports, to performing provincial police duties like highway patrol, to performing local policing in some towns and cities. Formerly it also handled intelligence and counterintelligence! > > So there is nothing at all in Canada that requires a city to have its own police force. If it doesn’t, there will be a larger police force available. In fact, because they do traffic control too, the motto of the mounties is “matiens le droit” or roughly “Keep right”. 😃 Some provinces, like Ontario, have their own police force. In others, like the prairies and BC, the mounties are the police for the province too. The mounties will contract to provide police services to municipality; IIRC, at one time 15,000 population was the cut-off. above that, it got somewhat too expensive to to pay the contract rate. In much smaller locales, they would have a small detachment. There was a notorious case in the prairies about 2 or 3 years ago where the chief of police managed to “mess up” the case so a fellow police officer was not able to be convicted of drunk driving causing death. The provincial justice department, as a consequence, decided the town could not handle its own policing and disbanded the department (about a dozen officers) and imposed policing by the mounties instead. It’s a good system - the small towns get a regular infusion of new blood, national standards for hiring and training, they are less likely to get too cozy with the city administration, and the heirachy extends all the way up to Ottawa, so the local council cannot bully or intimidate the officers on the job. A peace office is a peace officer anywhere in Canada (AFAIK) so there are no restrictions about being out of their jurisdiction, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-large-does-a-town-have-to-be-in-order-to-require-a-police-department/624852/25 "2012-06-12T17:41:48Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > You would need at least 2 people before you could have an internal affairs department though, right? Not if you were fairly introspective. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-large-does-a-town-have-to-be-in-order-to-require-a-police-department/624852/26 "2012-06-12T19:44:17Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Not if you were fairly introspective. Yes, being unfairly introspective just wouldn’t do, now would it? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-large-does-a-town-have-to-be-in-order-to-require-a-police-department/624852/27 "2012-06-12T19:58:19Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Yes, being unfairly introspective just wouldn’t do, now would it? > > 🙂 That’s profiling, that is! ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-large-does-a-town-have-to-be-in-order-to-require-a-police-department/624852/28 "2012-06-13T06:34:17Z")
A related question is, who decides the insignia for police chiefs? I’ve always been amused when I see the police chief of some medium-sized city wearing a uniform with the stars of a vice admiral on his collar, but on tonight’s news there was a story about Middleborough, Mass., enacting a new law that fined citizens for using bad language. It featured a very brief interview with the Middleborough chief of police. And I shit you not, he sported the five-star pentagons I last saw when I looked up something about Douglas MacArthur. Too funny. ---
**Author:** ![bleibtreu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bleibtreu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleibtreu)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2012, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-large-does-a-town-have-to-be-in-order-to-require-a-police-department/624852/29 "2012-06-15T03:46:28Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > And I shit you not, he sported the five-star pentagons I last saw when I looked up something about Douglas MacArthur. Too funny. Heh. Yes, quite impressive, here’s a pic: > **[Massachusetts Police Chief Comes Up with Shocking Plan to Curb Cursing in Town...](https://tsminteractive.com/police-chief-cursing/)** > > Talk about putting your money where your mouth is. The police chief in Middleborough, Mass. is considering enforcing a longstanding, but little-used ,law ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2012, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-large-does-a-town-have-to-be-in-order-to-require-a-police-department/624852/30 "2012-06-15T03:50:45Z")
> [@Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](#): > > I believe Mayberry had a population of 2,000, and a police department of 2. But Andy Griffith was the sheriff, so he worked for Mayberry County, not for the town of Mayberry. I suspect that the town had no police department of its own. ---
**Author:** ![Wizard\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Wizard\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wizard_One)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-large-does-a-town-have-to-be-in-order-to-require-a-police-department/624852/31 "2012-06-17T04:54:14Z")
To be blunt and honest, as many as the local government decides it needs to have for policing. Because, LEGALLY, there are ZERO qualifiers for numbers of police in national law or any state law I’ve found. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-large-does-a-town-have-to-be-in-order-to-require-a-police-department/624852/32 "2012-06-18T05:56:19Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > A peace office is a peace officer anywhere in Canada (AFAIK) so there are no restrictions about being out of their jurisdiction, etc. Peace officers appointed under federal law, such as the RCMP, are peace officers throughout Canada, but peace officers appointed under provincial law are not pace officers throughout Canada, since provincial legislative power is limited to within each province. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-large-does-a-town-have-to-be-in-order-to-require-a-police-department/624852/33 "2012-06-21T03:37:05Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > …he sported the five-star pentagons I last saw when I looked up something about Douglas MacArthur. Too funny. The outgoing chief of the Sanford, Fla. (pop. 53,000+) department wears four stars: [http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/20/justice/florida-martin-case-police-chief/index.html?hpt=hp\_t1](http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/20/justice/florida-martin-case-police-chief/index.html?hpt=hp_t1) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-large-does-a-town-have-to-be-in-order-to-require-a-police-department/624852/34 "2012-07-21T18:28:24Z")
As does the chief of the Aurora, Colo. (pop. 325,000+) police department: [James Holmes, Aurora Shooting Suspect, Purchased 6,000 Rounds Of Ammunition Online | HuffPost Denver](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/james-holmes-aurora-shooting_n_1691191.html?ncid=webmail2) ---
**Author:** ![Ruby\_Slippers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/94ad74/32.png) [@Ruby\_Slippers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby_Slippers)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-large-does-a-town-have-to-be-in-order-to-require-a-police-department/624852/35 "2012-07-21T18:35:34Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > St. Louis County, Missouri is known for having a bunch of tiny little towns (some of only 1,000 or less) with their own police departments. > > We call those towns “speed traps.” Yep, we’ve got some of those in Ohio, too. I’m looking at YOU, North Hampton! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-large-does-a-town-have-to-be-in-order-to-require-a-police-department/624852.md?page=1)