police power

noun

1. the power of a nation, within the limits of its constitution, to regulate the conduct of its citizens in the interest of the common good.

Word History and Origins

Origin of police power¹

An Americanism dating back to 1820–30

Example Sentences

Last year, the New York Police Department moved forward with adding the robotic canines to its force despite complaints of “a dystopian overreach of police power,” according to Wired.

From BBC

"People need to feel like they can observe and record the state exercising its police power, whether that's on Bourbon Street or the side of the road," Scott Sternberg, a lawyer for the plaintiffs told the Times-Picayune.

From Salon

Ravin agreed, calling the defendant “extensively trained” and saying the five-minute chase through Newark that ended in the death of 46-year-old driver Gregory Griffin and left his passenger critically wounded was “an abhorrent abuse of police power.”

From Seattle Times

What’s at stake, they argue, is “the fundamental police power that all states possess to preserve public sidewalks, parks, school grounds, and other spaces for the use and enjoyment of the general public, free from obstruction, harassment, and inconvenience.”

From Los Angeles Times

Apart from a few outlier decisions in the slave-era South, courts routinely upheld these statutes as a legitimate exercise of state police power, the authority of the people acting through their legislatures to pass laws to promote public health and safety.

From Slate