> where the civilian is armed Nitpick: Cops are civilians too. Every time the cops show up, the community has to deal with an "armed civilian". > situations w

> where the civilian is armed Nitpick: Cops are civilians too. Every time the cops show up, the community has to deal with an "armed civilian". > situations where the civilian is armed (which is not always known by dispatch nor the cops themselves, until it's too late) Cops aren't the only government employees that interface with the [potentially armed] public though. Parking enforcement officers don't have guns, and it doesn't seem to me that they're regularly ambushed. I've found three cases where this has happened, although I'm sure there are others: - Campus parking officer stabbed my school janitor (https://nypost.com/2018/06/29/campus-parking-officer-stabbed-to-death-in-california/ https://nypost.com/2018/06/29/campus-parking-officer-stabbed...) - Ex-Federal Protective Service cop gets intoxicated and shoots at parking enforcement (https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/shots-fired-at-parking-enforcement-officer-while-on-the-job/2072813/ https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/shots-fired-at-park...) - "Man with AK-47 approaches parking officer during argument about tickets" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDJ4OsYXul0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDJ4OsYXul0) Anyway, yes, there are lots of people with guns, and that means that they may act erratically (to neighbors and government employees). Showing up with guns and threatening them with violence makes many people behave more erratically, not less, and my hope would be that we don't have to worry about "what if that guy has a gun" because 'maintaining public safety' means replacing their broken headlight rather than giving them a ticket and a court date and demanding to search their vehicle while you're at it.