“I knew an old school cop who said that he could defuse 90% of bad situations by a bit of patience and politeness.”
We need more old school cops.
They're not making them anymore. The new ones are all tactical tommies who think they're living in a youtube video. The guy of which I speak was a forward artillery observer in Vietnam... he knew what was maximal badness and what was just a "problem".
I worked corrections, and early on learned that you could either fight all the time or call a con "Sir" when you needed compliance and get it done.
I grew up in a town of 5,200 and we had a police chief and two assistants. I think there were a couple of part time ones too.
I no longer live there but am close enough that I visit maybe once a month. I see several cops every time. I mean there must be 50 cops on the force. The sad thing is most people want it that way.
The city still has the same population btw.