Even so, J Random Citizen getting tooled up and travelling to do something about it... it's very alien.

That's a law enforcement role in most of the rest of the western world.

Agreed.

The problem is that when the government is derelict in it's duty (or, if critical mass of people believe so), this is the expected outcome. If people lose faith in the government to protect them, they're not going to roll over and die, they'll take whatever measures they deem fit to defend themselves and their property.

Law Enforcement exists for a reason. Maintenance of a degree of order keeps the populace happy while professionalism and codification of enforcement moderates the response (at least in the general case). Ideally, it's the "win-win" scenario where the perpetrators get to be treated well enough, while the populace is confident that violations of their safety and rights will be addressed.

I agree, as do many of the level-headed takes I saw in threads following the live trial. It's been rumored that the police department pulled out of a large part of the community based on instructions from the mayor's office [0]. Hence, if the rumors are true, the real fault here lies with the local administration.

[0] I have no source, but it seems consistent with the police behavior observable in the videos.

I see you have missed the 5th Amendment rationale memo.

>That's a law enforcement role in most of the rest of the western world.

Might want to take a step back and realize what they were protesting.

I'm aware what was being protested. I'm not sure that makes any of it any better.

Do you think the police would act proactively in a protest like that?

> It was something between a riot and a protest.

When the destruction starts, it stops being a protest, and there is no between.