In the research on democracy and democratization, there is a lack of systematic thought on the relationship between police and democracy. In this paper I argue that it is possible to go beyond empirical and historical research into police roles and functions in real-life political systems, in order to formulate a theoretical framework that outlines the specific relationships between police and democracy. Because the functions of police in democracies are clearly different from those existing under authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, it makes sense to examine these interrelationships more closely. Although the police is sociologically speaking a nonaligned institution, since it can serve any regime and is therefore neither intrinsically democratic nor intrinsically authoritarian or totalitarian, there nonetheless exists a conceptual, historical and systematic connection between police and democracy.