I grew up in a small town of less than 6,000 people, and we had a full time police that was very visible and then county sheriff that operated outside the city

I grew up in a small town of less than 6,000 people, and we had a full time police that was very visible and then county sheriff that operated outside the city limits. There was one police officer per thousand people in the town. They were very visible and everyone ended up having interactions with them at some point in their lives. The one time I needed them in my life they were supremely unhelpful and unsympathetic. Basically said to me and my family “not our problem.” Ended up using social services instead, who got the sheriff involved, who immediately took action and was helpful, sympathetic, and checked in after their time assisting was over. In hindsight, my town would have been better off allocating the police funding to drug rehab and social services, and just asking the sheriff to handle policing in the town.