Originally Posted by
wildcatlh
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that police officers are under no duty to protect us. So there'd be no recourse against the police regardless of what they did or didn't do.
We could be completely safe if we lived in a police state. If we didn't have rights guaranteed to us under Natural Law (the United States Constitution isn't a guarantor of our rights; it's a limit on what the government can do to deny us those rights), if police could investigate anyone they wanted, search without cause, we'd be safer. But it wouldn't be worth it.
As for anything else? Thomas Paine once said that "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." Sounds like a pretty good way to think about things to me.
I think I am in a unique position to comment on this hypothetical.
I currently live in Qatar, a police state in which rights are regularly trampled upon, where I would never consider openly expressing a political opinion (e.g., by wearing a T-shirt with a political message on it), telephones are routinely tapped without warrants or court orders, and there are laws that regulate everything you do, including who you have consensual sex with. Qatar is also just about the safest place I have ever lived. Your kids can go out and play for hours without any need for worry. I regularly leave my car and home unlocked, and even minor crime is almost unheard of.
Previously, I lived in Poland, where publicly displaying open contempt for the government, law, order, or even innocuous rules is a national pastime (one social commentator observed that if you have a cinema in Poland, and put signs saying "Exit" above one door and "No Exit" above the other, EVERYONE would leave by the "No Exit" door, just because they didn't like someone telling them which door to use). People regularly drink, smoke, expectorate, and even fornicate in public. Parking and traffic rules are particularly carefully and deliberately ignored. You also need to watch your stuff constantly, because someone is always trying to make off with it, by one means or another. A moment's lapse in attention can mean your stuff is gone.
Obviously, there are pluses and minuses to both, but I wouldn't spend a moment's hesitation in choosing the Polish environment over Qatar. Freedom has a price, and freedom-loving people don't mind paying it day in and day out.
And that certainly goes for the hypothetical suggested by CtheC -- I would definitely be willing to accept a higher possibility of being a crime victim rather than tolerate harassment by the police.