The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state to enforce the law, to ensure the safety and possessions of citizens, to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include the legitimized use of force; the term is most associated with the police forces of a sovereign state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility. Police forces are defined as being separate from the military and other organizations involved in the defense of the state against foreign aggressors. Police forces are public sector services, funded through taxes. Law enforcement is only part of policing activity. Policing has included an array of activities in different situations, but the predominant ones are concerned with the preservation of order. In some societies, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, these developed within the context of maintaining the class system and the protection of private property. Police forces have become ubiquitous in modern societies.

Their role can be controversial, as some are involved to varying degrees in corruption, police brutality and the enforcement of authoritarian rule. A police force may be referred to as a police department, police service, gendarmerie, crime prevention, protective services, law enforcement agency, civil guard or civic guard. Members may be referred to as police officers, sheriffs, rangers, peace officers or civic/civil guards. Ireland differs from other English-speaking countries by using the Irish language terms Garda and Gardaí, for both the national police force and its members; the word "police" is the most universal and similar terms can be seen in many non-English speaking countries. Numerous slang terms exist for the police. Many slang terms for police officers are centuries old with lost etymology. One of the oldest, "cop", has lost its slang connotations and become a common colloquial term used both by the public and police officers to refer to their profession. First attested in English in the early 15th century in a range of senses encompassing' policy.

This is derived from πόλις, "city". Law enforcement in ancient China was carried out by "prefects" for thousands of years since it developed in both the Chu and Jin kingdoms of the Spring and Autumn period. In Jin, dozens of prefects were spread across the state, each having limited authority and employment period, they were appointed by local magistrates, who reported to higher authorities such as governors, who in turn were appointed by the emperor, they oversaw the civil administration of their "prefecture", or jurisdiction. Under each prefect were "subprefects" who helped collectively with law enforcement in the area; some prefects were responsible for handling investigations, much like modern police detectives. Prefects could be women; the concept of the "prefecture system" spread to other cultures such as Japan. In ancient Greece, publicly owned slaves were used by magistrates as police. In Athens, a group of 300 Scythian slaves was used to guard public meetings to keep order and for crowd control, assisted with dealing with criminals, handling prisoners, making arrests.

Other duties associated with modern policing, such as investigating crimes, were left to the citizens themselves. In the Roman empire, the army, rather than a dedicated police organization, provided security. Local watchmen were hired by cities to provide some extra security. Magistrates such as procurators fiscal and quaestors investigated crimes. There was no concept of public prosecution, so victims of crime or their families had to organize and manage the prosecution themselves. Under the reign of Augustus, when the capital had grown to one million inhabitants, 14 wards were created, their duties included capturing runaway slaves. The vigiles were supported by the Urban Cohorts who acted as a heavy-duty anti-riot force and the Praetorian Guard if necessary. In medieval Spain, Santa Hermandades, or "holy brotherhoods", peacekeeping associations of armed individuals, were a characteristic of municipal life in Castile; as medieval Spanish kings could not offer adequate protection, protective municipal leagues began to emerge in the twelfth century against banditry and other rural criminals, against the lawless nobility or to support one or another claimant to a crown.

These organizations became a long-standing fixture of Spain. The first recorded case of the formation of an hermandad occurred when the towns and the peasantry of the north united to police the pilgrim road to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, protect the pilgrims against robber knights. Throughout the Middle Ages such alliances were formed by combinations of towns to protect the roads connecting them, were extended to political purposes. Among the most powerful was the league of North Castilian and Basque ports, the Hermandad de las marismas: Toledo and Villarreal; as one of their first acts after end of the War of the Castilian Succession in 1479, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile established the centrally-organized and efficient Holy Broth

Wilhelmina Marie "Mimi" Wright is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. She was an Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, a judge of the Minnesota Court of Appeals, a Judge of the Minnesota District Court, Second Judicial District. Wright was born on January 1964 in Norfolk, Virginia. Growing up, her mother had to advocate for her to receive equal education due to ongoing resistance to integration, she went on to study literature at Yale University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree, received her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. Wright served as a law clerk for Judge Damon Keith, she worked at the law firm of Hogan & Hartson, LLP, in Washington, D. C. before joining the United States Attorney's Office in Minnesota. Wright has earned numerous awards during her career, including the Myra Bradwell Award in 2006 from the Minnesota Women Lawyers, the Lena O. Smith Achievement Award from the Black Women Lawyers Network in 2004, the B. Warren Hart Award for Public Service from the Saint Paul Jaycees in 2001, the Ten Outstanding Young Minnesotans Award in 2000.

Governor Jesse Ventura appointed her to the Ramsey County District Court in 2000 and in 2002 he appointed her to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, on which she served from September 3, 2002, to September 26, 2012. Governor Mark Dayton appointed Wright to the Minnesota Supreme Court on August 20, 2012, with her term beginning on September 27, 2012, she is the first African American woman to serve on the court. On April 15, 2015, President Barack Obama nominated Wright to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, to the seat vacated by Judge Michael J. Davis, who took senior status effective August 1, 2015, her nomination was reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 17, 2015, by voice vote On January 19, 2016 the Senate voted 58–36 in favor of confirmation. She received her federal judicial commission on February 18, 2016. Wright is married to Ecolab executive Dan Schmechel, they have one daughter. Wilhelmina Wright at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.

Wilhelmina Wright at Ballotpedia

Following a dip in audience figures from the previous series, several changes were implemented for this series. Four gladiators left the show - Warrior was dismissed after being arrested for a firearms offence. Gold and Rocket departed, all three had only lasted one series. Two new gladiators joined the team and Vulcan. Vulcan joined the UK series after his native Australian series had been cancelled, was brought in to give established bad guy Wolf a run for his money, Andrew Norgate returned to become the main assistant referee again; this dropped the number of gladiators for this series to fifteen. Somewhat strangely though, neither Diesel or Vulcan's faces were added to the opening credits of the show. Furthermore, this series introduced new costumes for the gladiators; the iconic individual kits that signified each gladiator's identity were out, in came a new, unified kit which looked more the same on every gladiator with the design's altered on each one so that no gladiator had the same or similar outfit style.

Four established events were given major facelifts. Powerball now featured two contenders against just two gladiators, with each gladiator targeting a specific contender. Pendulum now became a game where contenders had to light flashing sectors to score points before they were caught in the usual way, with 2 points each for three main sectors and a special 4 point sector located at the bottom of the pendulum, if the gladiator falls, the contender still automatically scored 10 points. Gauntlet's point system changed to scoring 10 points for completing regardless of the time, which remained at a 30-second limit, if a contender was beaten by the clock, they would score a point for every gladiator they got past, and on Whiplash, the design of the dogbone was changed to make the game more of a challenge for both the contender and the gladiator. More behind the scenes cuts were used in this series, this included showing the backstage coin toss for certain events when contenders discovered which gladiator they would face in each one.

Three new events were introduced in this series. Pyramid was axed for a second time after its redesigned format in the previous series received a poor reception from viewers. In total, nineteen events were used, the most in any one series; the only events that did not appear in this series were Tilt, Joust and Pursuit. Contenders and Gladiators face one another on bungee cords. Contenders have sixty seconds to deposit as many balls as possible into their goal basket, which the gladiators have to defend. Two points are scored by the contender for each "goal". Contender and Gladiator are each strapped to their own airship. Using hi-tech combat clubs, they have thirty seconds to try and eject their opponent from their airship. Two strikes to their body hit sensor results in an ejection. A contender scores ten points for ejecting them. Contender and gladiator climb up a giant pole and must use only their body weight to traverse across four other similar poles, before grabbing a giant ring to fly back down to the floor.

If the contender wins, they will score ten points, if the gladiator wins, the contender scores a point for every pole they have traversed