“If you do not have a gun, get one and get one soon. We will not be able to protect you or your family. It will be your responsibility to protect them. Our gutless commanders and politicians have neutered us. I’m serious, get a gun, get more than one, and keep one with you at all times.”
- A Concerned Cop (anonymous)
What separates this from any other day? They never are able to protect you or your family, and it’s been decided by the SCOTUS that they never had a responsibility to protect in the first place. They’re there to write reports and hand out tickets mostly.
Realistically speaking, I like to say that “citizens of good character” *are* the police, and as such, have (or should have) wide latitude in enforcing felony laws. This being said, the uniformed police carry out three duties that the citizenry both do not care to do, and take a full time job to do. To do this they are under stringent rules, far more than are the citizenry.
1) A day and night watch.
2) Collect and process forensic evidence after a crime.
3) Doggedly pursue suspects for the courts.
These rules exist because the citizenry recognize that the uniformed police are de facto paramilitaries, that is, having an “organizational structure, training, subculture, and (often) function similar to those of a professional military.” And as such, they must be under very clear direction and control, with very clear and limited purpose.