|
> There's a clear difference in reporting, accountability, access to weaponry, training, and cultural expectations. I'm happy to stipulate this. But it doesn't mean what you think it means. > The gendarmerie are military units, police departments are typically civilian units. Because this is clearly false. Think about the Air Force. Compared to the Army, there is a clear difference in reporting, accountability, access to weaponry, training, and cultural expectations. And yet, obviously, the Air Force is a division of the army (small 'a'). There are no civilians who care about the distinction between the Army and the Air Force, because it is meaningless outside of paperwork. This is also true of the police. They have their own reporting structures, accountability procedures, weaponry, training, and internal culture, and they are very clearly a military organization. Their entire purpose is to enforce the will of the state by using violence. They do not have any function other than that. And that function is what defines the military. |
The police are subject to civilian law, cannot, for instance, be deserters. The police lack training and aren't a national force with unified standards. The police can just quit at any time. The police, in many places, are subject to civilian oversight and review.
The differences I think are still material, even though they do have the monopoly of state violence against the people of their nation.