The Constitutional Purpose of Policing

Article summary

Before an officer can carry a badge, they take an oath, not to a chief, not to a penal code, but to the Constitution. Alikhan argues that's not ceremonial. It's the actual answer to a debate that keeps getting relitigated: should police be enforcers, guardians, or something else entirely? The Constitution never says the purpose of policing is enforcement. Its Preamble says “establish justice” and “promote the general welfare,” enforcement is one tool toward that end, not the end itself. And its logic is unsparing: “no individual entrusted by the public, not a president, a priest, or a police officer, is above the law.” The gap, Alikhan argues, is training. Constitutional policing is usually taught only as a list of what not to violate, rarely as the actual source of the job's purpose. Closing that gap is what lets agencies build strategy, metrics, and public trust on constitutional ground instead of borrowed metaphors.