In these catastrophic situations civil authority breaks down and self reliance becomes the order. Amongst normal people, this usually works for most everyone, as best can be expected.
There are, however, on occasion, individuals, in these situations, who think that because they are armed, they are entitled to intimidate. They are more dangerous than the criminals and should be disarmed or fragged.
Are you talking about cops?
Government is a notoriously BAD arbiter in such things.