Police departments in the ‘40, 50’s and later were full of combat veterans of the Bulge, Philippines, Tarawa. They all would of been more like Andy than now.
I often wonder if cops ‘get it’. That the more laws, the more things and acts that become ‘illegal’ the more citizens that just yesterday used to be lawful are now ‘illegal’ in more ways, each way of which can be baloney sliced into more infractions, the less support they get the less they are liked, the more they are seen as not as citizens but as agents of the state.
Many cities have near half arrest rates for murder with convictions of half again, let alone rape, assaults, thefts, break’ins. Yet have a turn single out, one of thousands every day, of which the police cite a few, and yet mass death doesn’t occur, you still get the felony stop, rudeness, cranky pissed off cop, or two cruisers because it is such a crime day. And if you go to the station, there are yet more guys pushing papers, forms, admin, ....
Why were New York, Boston, Detroit police at one time able to police the city without even guns? Because the laws were few, basic as the Old Testament, and the police were seen as fellows, as hired citizens, not agents of the state against the citizens.
“Police departments in the ‘40, 50’s and later were full of combat veterans of the Bulge, Philippines, Tarawa. They all would of been more like Andy than now.”
Key point. The cops were all trigger men at that time; they knew how to play rough - they’d learned how in the WWII schools of hard knocks overseas - and they were not at all reluctant to do so. Just as importantly, no one tried to stand in their way.
“Why were New York, Boston, Detroit police at one time able to police the city without even guns?”
Two additional points: people were far more civilized - and civil - then, so there was less crime; and, as I touched on above, they were intelligent enough to get out of the way and stay out of the way when the cops did what had to be done. And everyone then agreed it had to be done. The ACLU in those days would have been considered naive and meddlesome. Moreover, when the thugs were apprehended, they were either “shot trying to escape” in the truly awful cases, or they were put in prison to stay by judges who also knew what had to be done.
I’m not entirely certain how many of the police, however, declined to carry firearms; my impression is that most cops did, even then.