
Most uniformed officer responses could just as easily be solved by a social worker (in an ideal system), or really, anyone without a gun and anger issues. This would free up officers to respond to the “day to day crime” of which you speak. The police are under no legal obligation to protect you (Warren v. District of Columbia; 1981). We have seen again and again that they care much more about private property and maintaining order. Their jobs are to fill prisons and disrupt minority communities
The purpose of a system is what it does. With how ineffectual cops are at solving actual crimes—58% of all homicides go unsolved per the FBI—and how violent they are allowed to be, their true character is revealed. Instruments of control. The state monopolizes its violence as legitimate and “legal.” God forbid you fight back (or look at them funny), though.