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Police are not there to protect you. Their job is to bring perpetrators to justice. If they are nearby, they may or may not attempt to stop a crime in progress,

by drcube 14y ago

Police are not there to protect you. Their job is to bring perpetrators to justice. If they are nearby, they may or may not attempt to stop a crime in progress, but they are not required to do so, and that does nothing to stop personal assaults that might occur. In the best case, they are purely reactionary, not preventative. In the worst case they are useless. The military is not there to protect you either. Their job is to enforce national policy abroad, put down rebellions and repel invasions. I agree that police and the military make us safer overall, on average. But they do not protect you personally. You can either pay a private security firm to defend you if you are rich, or you can defend yourself. There literally are no other choices.

_delirium 14y ago
In suburban and rural areas where they only show up in response to phone calls, I agree as far as police being reactive. But in urban areas police serve a preventative and direct-intervention role, which is one of the classic functions of "walking the beat". They're physically present at major squares and landmarks, and intermittently present through much of the rest of the city. I pass police officers pretty regularly when I walk to and from work, and I would guess most of the time (barring when I'm in a more remote area), I could get a quite timely response if I yelled for help.
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- mlbmlb 14y ago
  The important part is: > to come if you call them That is very nice in the situation you described (e.g. someone is shouting threats at you, especially in the comfort of your house), but pretty useless in most other situations. Unless you have a police officer walking with you 24/7/365, when you find yourself in front of attacker, you may or may not be able to even call the police and when they arrive, they would only collect evidence around your dead body. Yes, the attacker would be then removed from the society (usually only temporarily and only if they are found) and some possible new attackers would be deterred by the idea of being found. But before someone like that is convicted, they must perform or try to perform their first crime. Is this some kind of duty, if someone happen to be that first victim, to remain defenseless and sacrifice themselves? Also there are incidents such as road rage or crime of passion, when the attacker has no previous history. PS: Even in the situation you described (guy making threats outside your home), the police may be, and often is, late, when the guy (or more of them) decide to get into the house. Calling the police and waiting for their arrival takes at least minutes. Unless you have a fortress, making a way into your house takes seconds. Recall the woman who had to shoot two robbers while still talking to 911 operator.

by drcube 14y ago

_delirium 14y ago

In suburban and rural areas where they only show up in response to phone calls, I agree as far as police being reactive. But in urban areas police serve a preventative and direct-intervention role, which is one of the classic functions of "walking the beat". They're physically present at major squares and landmarks, and intermittently present through much of the rest of the city. I pass police officers pretty regularly when I walk to and from work, and I would guess most of the time (barring when I'm in a more remote area), I could get a quite timely response if I yelled for help.

deleted 14y ago

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mlbmlb 14y ago
The important part is: > to come if you call them That is very nice in the situation you described (e.g. someone is shouting threats at you, especially in the comfort of your house), but pretty useless in most other situations. Unless you have a police officer walking with you 24/7/365, when you find yourself in front of attacker, you may or may not be able to even call the police and when they arrive, they would only collect evidence around your dead body. Yes, the attacker would be then removed from the society (usually only temporarily and only if they are found) and some possible new attackers would be deterred by the idea of being found. But before someone like that is convicted, they must perform or try to perform their first crime. Is this some kind of duty, if someone happen to be that first victim, to remain defenseless and sacrifice themselves? Also there are incidents such as road rage or crime of passion, when the attacker has no previous history. PS: Even in the situation you described (guy making threats outside your home), the police may be, and often is, late, when the guy (or more of them) decide to get into the house. Calling the police and waiting for their arrival takes at least minutes. Unless you have a fortress, making a way into your house takes seconds. Recall the woman who had to shoot two robbers while still talking to 911 operator.