> As far as necessary until told different by their bosses.

So if they start slaughtering people tomorrow and bosses don't tell them to stop in time, then they are just "doing their job" right?

> ... but law enforcement gets a lot of crap in all seasons.

I wonder why that is? Why don't barbers, engineers, firefighters get as much crap?

And besides, who are bosses anyway? Aren't people the bosses. If people pay taxes for this "protection" they have all the justification to howl. How is that different than paying for a service, not getting it, and then complaining.

> When they get caught following up a terrible lead (eg a Reddit post), people howl, asking how they could be so stupid and blind, and so on.

If people didn't "howl" in that case, then we would have clearly reached some kind of total surveilance stage, where citizens are monitored by law enforcement agencies for any reason, any time, and nobody thinks twice about it.

Notice how the traditional media didn't "howl" too much at it. That's a telling lesson of the kind of biases we are dealing with.

I didn't intend to pick a fight, only point out that they take crap on either end of the spectrum. Some people expect everything and anything to be done to prevent terrorism. Others expect a firm line on individual rights. Different people howl for different reasons. That's politics in essence.

The priorities law enforcement deals with have fundamental conflicts which are often fueled by outrage and political expediency. It's not a fun situation for anyone. No one wants to be "soft on crime", but neither do they want their malls blown up.

I imagine that barbers don't get the same level of crap because their job is not a political football. I am certainly not excusing stupidity or malice.

So they get in trouble for doing a shitty job and they also get in trouble for not doing their jobs? Wow, that's a catch 22.