In Athens publicly owned slaves were used by magistrates as a police force. A group of 300 Scythian slaves (the so called “rod-bearers”) was used to guard public meetings to keep order & control the crowds, & assisted in dealing with criminals, handling prisoners, & making arrests. The first ancient police were order, demeanor, hygiene, protection of morals, market police surveillance, supervision of construction, surveillance of foreigners, the prevention of public accidents, etc. (jan 1, 502 BC – jan 1, 84)

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