Try to tell that to a tennis-shoed granny who sees - horrors - someone carrying a weapon into the woods - a thousand miles away from a gas station. She's going to call 911 and someone is going to respond. And that someone should be free to be doing something more productive.
Perhaps I'm naive, or just suffering from selective memory, but I truly believe the bulk of law enforcement officers, especially locals, have brains which they are capable of using.