Comment by defrost

> the non-politically-loaded phrase

You mean its popularisation and heavy use by William Henry Parker III, Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (from 1950 to 1966)?

He very much used it in a loaded manner to portray police as bastions of good and the last defence against "the criminal element".

From his wikipedia page:

   Parker himself was known for his "unambiguous racism".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Parker_(police_offi...