In general, people’s opinion about the police force and how it operates has an awful lot to do with their perception of that police force as being, for example, as something necessary for society in order to maintain and thereby to uphold civility, the law, as well as for our general protection; as compared to those others that see the police as being something more akin to an occupying force. This is indeed the dichotomy that represents the division that we see between those who feel the police are far too often expending time and energy in specific enclaves of poverty by abusing those who are the residents of such, as compared to providing those impoverished people more often with necessary protection and good service. On the other hand, those who live in well-off areas, typically see the police as a necessary presence to remind those who are up to no good or considering such, that there will surely be consequences for their ill behavior.
However, that said, a fresh and innovative way to look upon the policing force of America, is to consider the great advantage of a police force that represents more of a bodyguard function for us, as compared to an entity that seems to be separate from the people and thereby never answers to those people. That is to say, a police force, in which those that are members of that police force, were structured in a way and manner that they served us as bodyguards would be a material improvement upon the present course of things, for the vast majority of people. The reason that this would be so, is the fact that those who have taken the time to know us, are the very same, who will acknowledge our concerns and therefore will behave then in a way and manner, that would be more of service and protection for us.
Look, it has to be said that the more localized a given police force is, the better overall it would be for the population, for when the people know who the officers of the law are, and the officers of the law know who we are, there is thereby an understanding between the two, and when the people and the officers are truly on the same page because those officers are behaving as if they are our collective bodyguards, this provides us with the security and safety that we appreciate. When we are recognized by officers for who and what we really are, and those officers thereby make it their expressed point to protect us from danger, then we surely have a police force that is behaving as our valued bodyguard.
Indeed, many a police force has as their motto, “to protect and to serve,” which many a person intuitively desires from their police force, and the best way to achieve such a noble goal, would be for a more localized police force, that takes the time to earn the respect of as well as to know its residents, which provides then a safe harbor for a meeting of the minds between the policing arm of the state and the people, which makes thus for a safer, secure, and a more just society.