{
  "id": "police.authority",
  "term": "police",
  "sense": "authority",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 11,
  "arena": "everyday",
  "domain": "social",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "people of government that follow law",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "government.administrative",
      "law.rule"
    ],
    "interaction": "government orders people and law orders the rule they follow",
    "novel_properties": [
      "collective authority",
      "coordinated enforcement",
      "public legitimacy"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The New York City Police Department patrolled streets daily in 2023 under city charter and state law.",
      "domain": "institutions"
    },
    {
      "text": "Royal Canadian Mounted Police enforced speed limits on Highway 401 in Ontario using radar in 2022.",
      "domain": "law"
    },
    {
      "text": "Tokyo Metropolitan Police monitored subway stations during rush hour in 2021 under Japan's Police Act.",
      "domain": "urban"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "id": "government.administrative",
      "type": "is-a",
      "note": "a police force is a governmental body"
    },
    {
      "id": "security.safety",
      "type": "enables",
      "note": "police enable safety for the public"
    }
  ],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "police",
    "policed",
    "polices",
    "policing"
  ],
  "closed": true,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-police.authority"
}