This article highlights a problem with policing that is particularly relevant during budget discussions: police in patrol cars are ineffective. On more than one occasion I’ve tried to get the attention of the police in passing cruisers, unsuccessfully. They drive around with the windows up and the air-conditioning or the heater on having a conversation. They can’t hear someone calling for help; they can’t hear the sounds of breaking and entering; they can’t smell a crack pipe or a fire or hear someone being beaten in a back alley.
They can only respond after the fact once a call has been placed to 911, routed to the appropriate division and then relayed by the dispatcher. Criminals know this, and they count on it just as they count on us to be unwilling to stand up for ourselves. It is not the job of the police to protect society but rather to aid the public in protecting ourselves. For the police to admonish civilians for defending each other plays into the hands of miscreants.
Patrol cars are expensive to buy, equip, maintain and insure and they’re largely a post-World War II, North American phenomenon devised by the Detroit automakers. Constables on foot, on bicycles, and on horseback become a part of the community they serve. As such they are more visible and accessible and consequently, far more effective. We might have no need for masked crusaders if the police would step out of their cars and into the community.