Power vs Authority

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Authority ... is a matter of relationships, allegiances, and association and is "based ultimately upon the consent of those under it." Power, on the other hand, is "external" and "based upon force." Power exists where allegiances have decayed or never existed at all. "Power arises ... only when authority breaks down."

[F]or most Americans, the police ... are figures of authority. The badge does not merely represent rule via lethal force, but rule through consent and legitimacy rooted in nobility. This is why whenever a liberal politician offers even the mildest criticism of the police, they must add that "the majority of officers are good, noble people." [T]he line is not meant to defend police officers, but to communicate the message that the speaker is not questioning police authority, which is to say the authority of our justice system, which is to say—in a democracy—the authority of the people themselves.

African Americans, for most of our history, have lived under the power of the criminal-justice system, not its authority ... The skepticism of Officer Darren Wilson's account in the shooting of Michael Brown, for instance, emerges out of lack of police authority—which is to say it comes from a belief that the police are as likely to lie as any other citizen. When African American parents give their children "The Talk," they do not urge them to make no sudden movements in the presence of police out of a profound respect for the democratic ideal, but out of the knowledge that police can, and will, kill them.

I can vouch for the above.  Growing up in India, the level of respect given to security guards was almost comical.  They were invariably old, out-of-shape men carrying an ancient Lee-Enfield .303 that was more likely to explode than actually fire.  There was no power there, and yet, one respected their authority to an almost religious extent.