Why would they be targets any more than they are now? If anything they would be less, because you stop getting all the "cop shoots innocent civilian" stories that are driving that sentiment. Meanwhile attacking a police offer would still be a life-ruining mistake, because you still go to jail for a very long time.

Cop killers are arrested and prosecuted in record time. The system throws the book at them and even the book is heavier when the victim is a cop (enhanced sentencing etc) even though the occurrence is rare.

Meanwhile, cops are murdering people with impunity at a rate of about 10x the former.

"Police" is a subculture of anti-society though and behavior and for some reason we keep giving them guns.

Nothing about that scenario refutes "cops need guns". Its a violent society; the police are under attack in some places.

I don't like it; but it's not helpful to shout blame. Have to understand where we are, to drive any change.

Garbage collectors are 3x more likely to die on the job than a cop https://qz.com/410585/garbage-collectors-are-more-likely-to-...

...and garbage collectors aren't armed! Thank you for the confirmation.

> There is a subculture of anti-police thought and behavior in the US (witness this thread).

I don't think this thread demonstrates anti-police thought in general. I think it demonstrates anti-police abuse of power/double standards/hypocrisy and other undesirable issues. It's certainly not littered with people chanting "ACAB!".

Still, to doubt police need the tools that they nationally use, and to keep equating their needs with the general population, is willfully misinterpreting/miscasting the situation. Even a locksmith is allowed tools outside what the public is allowed. Are police to be just well-meaning neighbors with no ability to do more than gently admonish? Witness the movie "Demolition Man" when cops of the future (actually more like therapists) were steamrollered by a criminal from the past.