Skip to main content

harry potter - Are there police in the Wizarding World?


In the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, courts exist (such as the one that Harry went to for his trial during Order of the Phoenix) and there are Aurors who are specifically tasked with tracking down dark wizards.


However, I don't recall any mention of more general police in the world that might catch criminals for crimes of lesser importance, such as shoplifting in Diagon Alley or vandalism in Hogsmeade. Surely such law enforcement must exist for a functioning society, but is there any explicit evidence that such police exist?



Answer



Yes.


Arthur Weasley and Harry discussing the regurgitating public toilets:



'Will it be Aurors who catch them?'


'Oh no, this is too trivial for Aurors, it'll be the ordinary Magical Law Enforcement Patrol - ah, Harry, this is Perkins.'



Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - p.123 - Bloomsbury - Chapter 7, The Ministry of Magic



Also in The Half-Blood Prince, Arthur heads up the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects, which seems to have an element of law enforcement behind it. Also, in his role in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office he had the power to conduct raids. Plainly there is a Magical Law Enforcement Patrol, but, also, general law enforcement seems to be spread across departments at the Ministry of Magic, rather than being entirely under one crime-fighting arm. Thus, Arthur's Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office is a small part of level two at the Ministry of Magic:



'Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters and Wizengamot Administration Services.'


Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - p.120 - Bloomsbury - Chapter 7, The Ministry of Magic



I also find it interesting that Level Four is the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, which - again - seems to have some law enforcement powers, such as punishing people who breed experimentally and ordering and carrying out the execution of dangerous animals.


One thing we can say, though, is that nobody in the wizarding world is called a policeman. Amos Diggory on the break-in to Mad-Eye Moody's house.




'... Muggle neighbours heard bangs and shouting, so they went and called those what-d'you-call-'ems - please-men.'


Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - p.141 - Bloomsbury - Chapter 11, Aboard the Hogwarts Express



Interestingly, in this case, it seems to be "the Improper Use of Magic lot" who set off for Moody's house (GoF, p.142).


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...
Post a Comment
Read more

languages - Do we ever see written English in the Star Wars films?

In Empire Strikes Back , we see a transcription of what R2's beeps and bloops mean, but it's not English (sorry for the low quality, it's from the 2004 DVDs): I'd assume it's what Basic looks like when written, but is there some point in the the Star Wars films we see written English instead? (This sort of spun off from a discussion in How do people understand astromech droids? .) Answer At one point there was English but it has been phased out in subsequent versions of the films. Chris Gould at DVD Active did a comparison of all versions of each of the Star Wars films, and in his comparison of Episode 4 , there are a couple of screenshots showing how the power gauge for the Death Star tractor beam was changed. I imagine there are probably more to be found in his other comparisons but I haven't got around to reading those yet.
Post a Comment
Read more