Talk:Virginia Capitol Police

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[edit] Contradiction

This article contradicts with police and Texas Ranger division as to which is the oldest police department. BlueGoose 01:39, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

The Virginia Capitol Police, while tracing its origins back to 1618, was effectively dissolved in times it was still being called the Virginia Public Guard. It was disbanded in 1869 and reconstituted again in 1884, thus rendering the claim at the VCP article invalid in terms of "being the oldest law enforcement agency". The assertion of being the oldest "police department", which is entirely different, can be debated here. Reference: Virginia Historical Society. - Phædriel ♥ ^{tell me} 01:56, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

A police department is a subset of a law enforcement agency. The Texas Rangers article said that the Texas Rangers was the oldest law enforcement agency. As the Texas Rangers were founded in the 19th century and the VCP was founded in 1618 as the oldest police department, there is a contradiction since a police department IS a law enforcement agency (but a law enforcement agency does NOT have to be a police department (I think)). Now if some reference (with citations given) were made about the Texas Rangers being the longest continually serving law enforcement agency, that would be OK (if that were factually correct.) BlueGoose 17:58, 16 January 2006 (UTC)