In The Absence of Bodyguards

[tipofthespear]

The police, sheriff, and FBI will not protect a citizen unless they are a material witness and are in danger of dying before they can testify. Try going to your local police to get protection - they tell you that they can't do that - you need a court ordered protection "no contact" ruling and then (only then) they will respond to a violation of that protection order. The law has to be broken before police can act and you must have evidence that will stand up in court.

Any citizen in immediate danger can call 911 and receive police protection/response ASAP.....that being my point.......As for Peace Bonds, they can be obtained and the authorities are bound by Law to enforce them.....as well, in some States (ie. Alabama) if a citizen/business owner tells someone that they are not to return to their property in the presence of a police officer, that is the same as a Peace Bond, and should the person return, they can be arrested and charged with criminal trespass.......Law Enforcement personnel often "act" before any crime is committed, in various ways. These "acts" are designed to prevent crimes from occurring and/or reducing the level of crime in a certain area. Police officers intervene on a daily basis with the public to sort out disputes, and to prevent those disputes escalating into a more serious situation.

Don't know about the Law Enforcement personnel where you live, but ours are quite responsive to the best interest of the citizens here, and work daily to build a strong relationship with the citizens/within the community. If yours does not, sorry for you.

You can dial 911 for any number of reasons but to get the police to respond there has to be a crime involved. Police respond to crime not to fear that a crime may happen at some time in the future. Bodyguards are for protection, police are called after the fact.

This may well be true with your Police Department, but it is not what occurs on a daily basis in the rest of the Nation........and certainly is not how it is where I live........As an example, where I live, the larger Cities have enacted a program of Neighborhood Policing. That being they have established Sub-Stations in various neighborhoods around the City. This has been done for the SPECIFIC purpose of building stronger relations with the citizens, maintaining a "presence" in the neighborhoods, and to proactively decrease the crime rates in those neighborhoods. As well, the Public Schools where I live have D.A.R.E. Officers assigned to them (at least one per school) on a full time basis. This serves to build a relationship with the Police and the youth of the neighborhoods, again a "proactive" program to reduce the level of crimes, and, yes, to provide quicker response times when needed. There DOES NOT need to have been a crime committed to have Police Officers respond, for they respond to various calls on a daily basis when there is no actual crime being committed.......I would think this would be common knowledge.

You cited Detroit as an example of where "presence" of Police has not yet had a direct effect on the crime level, yet there are many other factors that go into that other than simple "presence." As well, just recently the news reported of the activities in Boston where Military Vets returning from the Middle East had joined the local Police Force and using the skills and knowledge they had learned in Afghanistan "specifically winning the hearts and minds of villagers" to combat the presence of terrorists, are now using these skills to win the hearts and minds of citizens in crime infested neighborhoods by having a "proactive" approach to their job. It is being heralded as a success by many in the Media, and by those who live in the targeted neighborhoods.

Again, I'm sorry that the Police where you live are not more "proactive" in their approach to decreasing the crime rates in your area, and that they are not more "proactive" in building strong relationships with the citizens in your area, but your example is not what I see every day........