104: Serve & Protect? A History of the Police

For many Americans, police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota
earlier this summer were strikingly reminiscent of similar
instances across the nation in recent years. The prominence of
both the shooting--and the retaliation--has sparked a new round
of questioning about the role of local police in their
communities. On this episode, we’ll explore how the first
municipal police departments were assembled to quell riots in the
1840s, not fight crime. And we’ll consider what happens when the
police don’t protect those they serve.