The question arises, the best protection for whom? Undoubtedly the best protection for the police is found in a police state. Everyone is aware of the usual hammer and sickle rhetoric every time a cop is killed (they become instant heroes of the rodina) about how they put their lives on the live every day blah blah blah... I remember doing a calculation the last time a Baltimore cop was killed and figuring out that an ordinary baltimore citizen was more likely to get murdered than was a cop, and baltimore isn't a complete police state yet. (Although with Glendenning as gov and Kennedy as his anointed replacement can this be far behind?)