Editing Police (section)

==== Israel ====
In ancient [[History of ancient Israel and Judah|Israel and Judah]], officials with the responsibility of making declarations to the people, guarding the king's person, supervising public works, and executing the orders of the courts existed in the urban areas. They are repeatedly mentioned in the [[Hebrew Bible]], and this system lasted into the period of Roman rule. The first century Jewish historian [[Josephus]] related that every judge had two such officers under his command. [[Levite]]s were preferred for this role. Cities and towns also had night watchmen. Besides officers of the town, there were officers for every tribe. The temple in Jerusalem was protected by a special temple guard. The [[Talmud]] mentions various local officials in the Jewish communities of the Land of Israel and Babylon who supervised economic activity. Their Greek-sounding titles suggest that the roles were introduced under Hellenic influence. Most of these officials received their authority from local courts and their salaries were drawn from the town treasury. The Talmud also mentions city watchmen and mounted and armed watchmen in the suburbs.<ref>{{cite web|title=Police Laws |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12239-police-laws|website=www.jewishencyclopedia.com|access-date=2020-05-06}}</ref>