Pennsylvania Democratic U.S. House nominee Chris Rabb put a curious spin on police reform proposals this week. When confronted by Sean Hannity on Fox News, Rabb explained matter-of-factly that the Founders did not have a clue about what “policing” was, suggesting that policing was a later-developed concept. It appears that not just our Constitution, but our history must be rewritten to meet contemporary political demands on the left. Rabb’s claim is historically unfounded. Just ask John Morton, signatory to the Declaration of Independence and local county sheriff.
In the interview, Rabb reaffirmed his alliance with socialists and categorically rejected the notion that undocumented people entering this country are “illegals.” Hannity asked, “Would you like to abolish prisons and abolish the police?”
Rabb responded:
“Well, what’s interesting about that statement is, long before there was any notion of policing, we had founders that did not even understand that term. Policing has evolved. Ultimately, we want communities that are safe. And 99% of what police do [is] not going after the bad guys, all of that can be done in different ways by professionals who are trained to do so.”
It is a gross over-statement. Signatory to the Declaration of Independence, Morton would likely beg to differ after serving as a local sheriff. He would probably note that in the 1600s, colonies organized “night watch” forces that were precursors to formal police departments. The British governors also enforced criminal laws through their own forces. Constables were prevalent.
The suggestion is that the colonies and early American states had no notion of policing for crime. In fact, the first constable was appointed in the Plymouth Colony in 1632.
Likewise, the first prisons stretch back to 1720 in York, Maine. There was also the establishment of the larger Newgate State Prison in Greenwich Village in 1796 and a similar prison in New Jersey in 1797.
It is not clear what Rabb is suggesting. He is certainly correct that, like other aspects of modern life, policing evolved with technology and conditions. The use of private prosecutions was initially carried over to the colonies. However, public safety was a concern in the colonies as it is in early states. It is simply not true that the Founders lacked “any notion of policing.” Constitutional amendments from the Fourth (on searches and seizures) to the Fifth (on the right to remain silent and due process) to the Eighth (on cruel and unusual punishment) all limit the police and the courts in criminal cases. American grand juries were used to investigate and charge crimes.
The punishments in colonial and early American cases tended to be swift and final, viewed as needed deterrents of crime. That included floggings, pillories, branding, and, of course, capital punishment. Many of these traditions came from Great Britain, which protected public safety through a mix of constables, sheriffs, attorneys general, and private prosecutions.
This historical account appears to be an attempt to justify the common mantra to “reimagine” policing and prisons. Such changes are clearly choices for the public to make in the democratic process. However, suggesting that there was no conception of policing is untrue.
As always a leftist D卐M☭CRAT trying to control the narrative by rewriting history. So very Orwellian of them , as well so very predictable and boorish of them as well.
It appears the policing just became more and more professional. Individuals rights started getting protected better instead of the injustice of policing by angry mob.
Oh…., I get it, now I see why leftys want to defund the police!
Indeed their overwhelming desire to impose control is impeded by our current system of policing and ultimately the Second Amendment just as the founders had envisioned.
Thank you, Professor Turley for bringing historical perspective and your clear-eyed focus on the Constitution at a time when misleading “narratives” gain too much traction. Our challenge in these times is to ferret out –for ourselves– truth. You help me.
The mistake identified in this article is that some small expectation that a democrat would know anything about anything. They know a lot about the fantasy world they live in, but not the real world. in their ‘world’ all this is true! History bends to strong opinions there.
Rabb should look at Salem. 1692. Someone filed a complaint. A magistrate took depositions. A constable made arrests. The accused sat in custody awaiting trial. That’s an investigation. That’s an arrest. That’s policing. The charge was insane. The process was not invented later.
And it wasn’t just the towns with courts and sheriffs. Even the smallest early communities did this. No constable (police, sheriff). No court. No outside help. Just neighbors taking rotations to watch the town, share the load, and protect each other. Nobody called it policing. They called it doing your part.
The Founders didn’t lack the concept. They lived through its worst version and its most basic version, and they wrote amendments to rein in the worst of it.
Rabb wants people to believe the Founders had no idea what policing was. Even a handful of families on the edge of the wilderness figured it out on their own.
You got a point in all that gobbledygook?
@Anonymous–
As expected, and right on time: Here comes a troll!
No one else had issues with this comment, only you.
Just maybe the problenm IS you.
OLLY,
Well said.
This also lead to the formation of the local militias.
Yes sir.
Is Rabb arguing about a word or a practice? Because those are very different claims. Maybe the Founders didn’t say “policing.” Fine. They still had the same process. Complaint. Investigation. Detainment. Judgment. Call it what you want, the principle was already there.
And this isn’t new to the founding era. It’s not new to the dark ages either. Go back as far as you want. Humans have always organized to protect themselves and keep order. Nomadic tribes had it. Small communities shared it. Nations built it at scale, then split it into two tracks, one for keeping peace at home, one for defending the border from everybody else. Different names, different tools, same idea, every single age of human history.
So the claim that the Founders had no concept of policing isn’t just wrong. It’s absurd on its face. Which makes me wonder if Rabb isn’t really talking about history at all. Maybe he means something narrower. They didn’t understand policing the way I define it.
If that’s the real claim, it’s worse, not better. Because now he’s not correcting the historical record. He’s just telling on himself.
Well said OLLY
This is the sort the dullards of the electorate deem competent to act on their behalf. Do not send to know who was elected. Send to know who voted. The blind leading the dumb. Therein lies the rub.
Dullards deemed competent? You mean Trump?
Dullard?
Trump, like Obama, was able to transfer from a decent school (Fordham vs Oxy) to an Ivy (Penn vs Columbia). Compare a true dullard, Joe Biden, whose dismal 1st semester performance at UDel ended his dream of playing college football, and who graduated right at the bottom quartile of his class. Admitted by some miracle to law school, Joe survived a plagiarism scandal to graduate 8th from the bottom from his undistinguished law school.
@Anonymous says: August 7, 2026 at 9:47 AM
No, we mean you, dullard.
So according to the new generation of morons we don’t need police we just need a group of professionals trained to go after bad guys???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????/
According to the old generation of morons, aka hullbobby, he has no idea what he’s screeching about.
Well that’s not a problem we have with you is it? We certainly know what you are screeching about. Clear as day
You’re welcome. Literacy runs in the family.
Glad to be of service in my duty to country and mankind.
I’m hoping you had a vasectomy.
Yes, Thank you for making your screeching specific. Coherent is too much to ask, I know.
No. That would be you loser. (ano)
Hey young moron, it is your group that is electing these DSA radicals due to your lack of real education and your lack of ability to reason.
Here’s a hint to young morons that hate my generation for being successful, continue working always without your gap years, your 32 hour weeks and you lapses between jobs, get a drivers license, go out on a date and partner up with someone, save a little each week even if it means you can’t use Door Dash or smoke dope and vape, and keep plugging along like my age group did. We were all struggling in our 20s but we didn’t have our moms interview with us, we didn’t have our moms drive us, we didn’t get everything delivered so we needed a license and we actually went out, met girls (or whatever your choice is) and we kept slowly advancing. Oh yeah, we didn’t whine about everything like you little girls of tody.
The cosplay DSA radicals here in the USA would end up as ‘useful idiots’ at best. and ‘useless eaters’ at worst under the system that they propose but do not understand. They should have a talk with their comrade commoners already living under authoritarian rule and find out.
HullBobby,
You are correct!
Trying to imagine what will these Gen Z, 30-somethings, failure to launch be like once their parents pass. Well, by then they will they will likely be in their 50s. A 50-something failure to launch? Still dependent on their parents for nearly everything? Then what? Jjust rely on whatever inheritance their parents leave them to live off for the rest of their meaningless lives? Just have everything delivered to them? Who is going to do their laundry without mom or dad around? Or are they just going to buy new underware once a month?
The one upside is they are less likely to reproduce.
new uniforms guys!
HullBobby,
My question is who exactly are these “. . . professionals who are trained to do so.”
You mean like going after criminal illegal immigrants like ICE does?
end all FEDERAL AID to city police forces. Why should they get money…but not small towns?
Shut-up you fool.
haha you have TDS.
I want all death penalties to be executed within a year of conviction!
Sixth Amendment
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
Time for a SPEEDY end of the trial…as in the punishment!
Tucker Carlson had a very good monologue Wednesday. If you find time to view it, it’s worth the gains.
Rebuilding America After the Great Betrayal
Our political system has collapsed into paralysis and looting. Change is coming. Here’s what America should be.
The Tucker Carlson Show • August 5th 2026 • 94 mins
https://tuckercarlson.com/live-show-august-5-2026
I wouldn’t give Tucker the time of day. I don’t need to be lectured by people that favor Russia, Muslim nations and a hatred of Israel.
Listen, self appointed pundits will say anything for notoriety and money. Just like yourself.
Surprised you took him seriously, but hey, you’re just a big mouth attacking people here and shooting off a steady stream of nonsense.
ano
Just like yourself.
Mirrors must really scare you.
Oh oh, ole Dustoff is big mad.
Mononymous, DustOff is not mad. He is just making an observation. One that is correct.
Mad… No, just laughing at you.
Moronymous,
HullBobby makes more and better contributions to the good professor’s blog then you ever have or will. Just like HullBobby has been a better person, contributing to society, making many achievements then you ever will.
Failure to launch.
No thanks… Tucker went off the deep end
Didn’t Carlson used to be on Fox? Whatecer happened to him?
Delusional lunatic
Currently the WORSE Democrats make it…the MORE federal rescue money they get!
STOP THAT!
What exactly have democrats made worse?
borders…inflation…race relations…patriotism…basically everything America was once great for. BUT…MAGA is here now.
Nyah!
And don’t ya just love it!
Voting crimes should be punishable by death!
Stop funding Democrats…they ALL EVERY single Voter HATE America
They are pro illegal and anti-America!
STOP 100% of federal funding to cities, states, non-profits and colleges
outlaw public unions!
All voting 1 day in person! I don’t care if you vote, I care if you cheat!
Ya see folks, this is why you can’t have nice things on this blog when idiots like this spew stupidities.
Who was the idiot that called the police when Nancy Pelosi’s husband was attacked?
Stephen B. Benisch, Esq.,
HA! Thank you for the laugh!
Al Gore would be proud of Chris Rabb. For Rabb and the ultra left, history has become an “inconvenient truth,” and must be abandoned. Expect this reasoning to soon become stock leftist response to questions about defunding the police. They will say, “We support replacing 99% of policing by professionals trained to deal with the problems.” Beautiful! But who are these people?
“Inconvenient truth,” as Gore applied it was about climate change denial. Not American history. Retired prof. huh?
It was analogy!
gdonaldallen,
Well, back in the good old Summer of Love, circa 2020 days, they wanted to defund the police and replace them with trained social welfare community specialists, or some other nonsense. Nothing says security like a over weight, blue hair, septum nose ring social welfare community specialist against some guy with a chef knife stabbing people at random or some trans yahoo shooting up a school.
The Chicago mayor-aka Mayor 6% -and the Chicago Teachers Union uses FELONS as violence interrupters,
but it hasn’t worked out all that well:
a few months back Governor Pritzger was photographed with one of them, who was later arrested for robbing the Cartier store on Oak Street with his posse
You cannot fix STUPID when it comes to LOWEST DENOMINATOR Democraps! This idiot would argue that because the founders did not know about the element oxygen they could not possibly comprehend the idea of AIR for breathing? This is the outcome from the DUMBING DOWN OF AMERICA and many of your urban schooled future Dems are built in the template of the Honorable Moron Rabb. Bah haha!!!!!
You’re WRONG! Oxygen was independently discovered by Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1772 and English chemist Joseph Priestley on August 1, 1774. So the founders clearly knew about oxygen. Get your facts straight! Also, Trump wants to put a tariff on imported oxygen, so vote DSA!!!!
Looks like he got you bacon sizzling. So you claim they all Clearly knew about O. Obviously you don’t that as a fact. You simply cannot prove that.
Next time raise your hand before speaking.
Chris Bacon, you missed the point by a mile…and you either know it or are to pedantic to care.
Not so crispy bacon, in 1772 or 1774 there was no internet. Any information at that time would have to be sent by boat to the colonies. Even the invention of the telegraph didn’t happen until 1830. So assuming that such information would have reached the colonies is not supported by the logistics needed to do so at the time. Perhaps you should take a deep breath of Oxygen before posting an opinion not based on conditions that existed in 1772 but rather concocted only in the half empty space between your ear’s.
Also, who had access to those book and pamphlets? Or even the interest? Ben Franklin for one. Benjamin Rush and James McHenry also.
The telegraph was first demonstrated in 1838. First telegram sent 1844.
Why lie Chris.
___________________
There is no official proposal or announcement from President Trump to place a tariff specifically on imported medical or industrial oxygen. Broad trade actions and Section 232 investigations into medical supplies and pharmaceuticals have been initiated or discussed by the administration, but raw oxygen itself has not been targeted
Maybe Rabb should reimagine his own understanding of history before he tries reimagining policing. He’s got the order backwards.
You don’t get to skip the “know what you’re talking about” step and go straight to “let’s rebuild it.” That’s not reform, that’s guessing out loud.
When a guy can’t get the basic facts of American history right, he’s not someone you take seriously on how to rebuild American institutions. Homework first, Congressman. Reimagining later.
Those “basic facts” you claim exist, is there a “basic facts” repository where we can all access them, or are “basic facts” really just a matter of individual interpretation?
Like what you’re doing with your comemnt. Yet you criticize Raab? What BS Olly.
Mononymous,
Oh! What is the matter? Reading comprehension skills failing you again?
just a basic fact from our secret repository: Boys have XY chromosomes, girls don’t.
Not yet diagnosed as negative for stupid.
Try this. If policing is not part of the historical narrative, then all Blacks revert to slave status. At least according to the book “The 1619 Project”. Anyone read it? Didn’t think so.
I’ve read it, I’m not sure you have. The 1619 Project is a collection of essays, not a textbook in chronological order like most history books where everything is designed to support each other. Now if you’re referring to the idea that police forces evolved from slave patrols. That’s absolutely true in the South. On large plantations and in whole states like South Carolina, people that would now be considered white were outnumbered by enslaved people and free Blacks. The North was different in that there were private forces controlled by the wealthy to protect the docks and control immigrants. I bet myself that the Turley history of policing wouldn’t mention slave patrols and I won. The first slave patrols were in South Carolina in 1704 and quickly spread throughout the colonies. The first public police force was in Boston in 1838. Policing was done
Got cut off. The earlies policing that Turley refers to were thugs paid to protect the interests of individuals, not the community.
Just like the police forces in blue states, you mean? BTW, he’s right. Get the basic facts right before screaming racism.
Be specific, he’s right about what. BTW, I only screamed history. If you believe anything I said was incorrect. Point it out.
Let’s also keep in mind, bounties were put on runaway slaves. I wonder if blacks claimed those bounties too?
The 1619 Project
___________________
Is a bunch of fools and nothing more.
Dustoff, its a book. A book.
Duh.. It’s also a book of lies.
Critics argued the project presents a cynical view of history, claiming it denies or obfuscates the foundational principles of the United States by placing slavery at the center of the nation’s origin rather than 1776
Several prominent historians criticized specific historical claims in the project—most notably the assertion that protecting slavery was a primary motive for the American Revolution
Yeah those democrats really abused their authority with the very long positive history of policing just to keep slaves when the republicans wanted them free. And today the democrats still can’t get the police to arrest the people they want them to. See, that’s not what police was originally for but those rotten democrats just had to keep the black man down.
The Democrats of the days Turley was writing about were pieces of shit and one can argue about the degree they are better today. The first Republicans were abolitionists (though they would have preferred to free the slaves and send them to another country) but did give us the three Reconstruction Amendments. Since 1877 and the compromise that gave them a contested election, they have transformed into what the Democrats once were, Depending on where you were in the country, the police originally controlled Black people or immigrants.
the parties swapped ideologies on April 17 1864.
Both sides independently discovered they were actually on the wrong side during the civil war.
It was a collective “I could’ve had a V8” moment for our country.
The swap actually took several days because of downed telegraph lines. It was the only time the whole country thought ‘Honest Abe’ had dementia all along and the Lincoln Memorial has a plaque with Abe’s apology for making it seem like they were freeing the slaves.
You’ve got me. What happened on April 17, 1864? Grant halted prisoner exchanges after the Fort Pillow Massacre, the Battle of Plymouth began. What are you talking about?
“This historical account appears to be an attempt to justify the common mantra to “reimagine” policing and prisons.”
The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly mention policing, but it grants states the authority to regulate behavior and enforce order through their police powers, as outlined in the Tenth Amendment.