The word 警察 is formed by combining two meaningful characters, each contributing a key aspect of the concept. The first character, 警 (jǐng), carries the core ideas of alerting, warning, and vigilance. The second character, 察 (chá), means to examine, inspect, or investigate. When fused, they create a compound that conceptually represents an entity or role whose fundamental duty is to maintain vigilance and inspect or investigate matters, that is, a police officer whose function is to watch over society and look into incidents.