In his City Journal column, our dubious doctor takes issue with the standard modern approach of the British police, who are a far cry from what Sir Robert Peel had intended back in the day at the founding.

The days of the friendly British bobby are long gone. British police now veer between the grossest sentimentality on the one hand, and ineffectual menace on the other, often without passing through much in between. When I was young, I was told, “If you want to know the time, ask a policeman.” I would now teach a young person, “If you see a policeman, cross the road.”