When was the first modern police force created and what did society use before the police force? Will something new replace the modern police force in the next thousand years?

I’m going to say China using “prefects” who were like the first cops.

Here’s an interesting article about London – Early Policing and the Bow Street Runners

And wikipedia actually has a pretty good entry/overview on the history of law enforcement and policing. Everywhere there humans, for as long as there have been humans, there has been crime and conflict and most societies and cultures have had some way, for better or worse, to deal with it and to try to maintain order. How any culture deals with crime and conflict and disagreements between it’s members depends a lot on the culture and it’s values, the size of the population and what type of issues are more typical to that society or culture. A society consisting of a relatively small population dispersed among villages is going to have a different system and different “policing” institutions than a larger, more densely populated urban area.

And this site, the book World Encyclopedia of Police Forces and Correctional Systems has some information. You can’t get full access to the text without registering, but they do offer a 3 day free trial. The chapter The Future of Public Safety offers at least someone’s view of two possible approaches to law and order and policing in the future.

BioMechanical OnStar installed in your brain.

Early police forces were an arm of the rulers. Small communities had little need for full time policemen. Large cities had soldiers and guards loyal only to their leaders, not the commoners. Of course churches maintain severe discipline over their “flock”, hence the burning of heretics.

What I worry about now is the militarization of city police forces. There is a build up of SWAT teams, drug enforcement squads and other special force operations. We seem to be heading back into the palace guard model.