The word government is not the best choice, it should probably be state, not at last because governments come and go while the state stays. But in essence the statement is correct - policy and military enforce the laws on behalf of the citizens, the police to the inside of the state, the military to the outside.

I respectfully disagree with the military=outside, police=inside distinction. For example, nations use the military internally in times of emergency, with the imposition of martial law. Similarly, police delegations get sent overseas on UN missions.

In my mind, the distinction is consent and source of authority. The military works by imposing rule, the definition of rule coming from a higher level. The police work by enforcing behaviour, as defined by the community they are policing.

Granted that the definition of community is subjective. My argument is the definition of "community" should be the smallest one possible that allows a positive outcome in the current situation. For example in a noise complaint, the police could appeal to a sense of right, based on the expectations of people in the street. The law wouldn't even come into it, as that is something from "outside". Only if that's unsuccessful would the police have to broaden the definition of community to include statutes and external influences.

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Edit: I'd also add that ultimately, the military is not bound by the law. Their final brief is "get the job done" and they will answer for war crimes if they stuff up.

It is valuable to make a distinction between state and government, but I can't agree with how you are classifying military and police. The military exists to defend the existence of a state. Police cannot perform this role in a democracy, because a democracy _should_ be able to destroy itself peacefully.

Police exist to promote social order and peace, and should have no allegiance to the state, but to the people. Conversely, the military must be obedient to the state in order to prevent internal fracture, as that would weaken the military as a combat force. The police cannot work in the same way: they are fractured simply by the fact that they have no strong central command structure. They serve their communities.

Police in the United States are not philosophically derived from the Peelian Principles. Police are civilians and not military, but they are government agents of the state you live in, with powers above those of citizens.