[Noumenon]

That line of officers watching people being beaten in San Jose and doing nothing was a political watershed that nobody in the media has shown any sign of noticing yet.

Resets the rules of engagement, doesn't it? Among other things.

[Nip]

I hate to tell you but the rules were changed a long time ago.

I call to your attention two legal cases from 1981. From Wikipedia:

“In two separate cases, Carolyn Warren, Miriam Douglas, Joan Taliaferro, and Wilfred Nichol sued the District of Columbia and individual members of the Metropolitan Police Department for negligent failure to provide adequate police services. The trial judges held that the police were under no specific legal duty to provide protection to the individual plaintiffs and dismissed the complaints. In a 2-1 decision, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals determined that Warren, Taliaferro, and Nichol were owed a special duty of care by the police department and reversed the trial court rulings. In a unanimous decision, the court also held that Douglas failed to fit within the class of persons to whom a special duty was owed and affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of her complaint. The case was reheard by an en banc panel of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.”
“In a 4-3 decision, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals affirmed the trial courts’ dismissal of the complaints against the District of Columbia and individual members of the Metropolitan Police Department based on the public duty doctrine. The Court explained that “[t]he duty to provide public services is owed to the public at large, and, absent a special relationship between the police and an individual, no specific legal duty exists.” The Court adopted the trial court’s determination that no special relationship existed between the police and appellants, and therefore no specific legal duty existed between the police and the appellants”

Isn’t nice to know that unless there is some kind of special relationship (I couldn’t find a definition of this anywhere) the men and women who your taxes support have NO requirement to provide individual citizens with “adequate police services”.

Now, does all of the repeatedly demonstrated lack of police response make sense? Do you now understand what happened in San Joes any better?

Get used to it folks. Unless local politicians and police forces have to buy their own equipment from their personal savings there will be no improvements. What business would tolerate this level of fraud?

“Serve and Protect”???