The function of the police is deterring crime. They cannot stop crime. Prisons stop crime. The best deterrent is: solving criminal activity and having the perpetrators punished.
Solving crimes means protecting evidence. The good police forces have become efficient in gathering data and meticulous in handling and assessing the evidence collected. The plethora of forensic based TV shows are indicative of the science involved in solving crime.
The men and women in uniform are the front line and are the face of our justice system. It is their job to stabilize a crime scene and protect it for the forensic specialist. This is what I honestly visualize when I hear the term 'protect and serve.'
The failure to deter crime is in the punishment phase. The police having done their job hand off the case to our justice system. The police solve the crime. Then it is time for the punishment side of deterrence. Even when convictions are obtained the resultant punishment is rarely a deterrent.
When criminals are coddled it makes deterrence ineffective. The system is not geared for incarceration of miscreants, but to making useful citizens of convicted criminals. The general public is skeptical of criminal rehabilitation. An ex-con's usefulness is diminished by an inherent lack of trust.
Perversely, this lack of trust is actually put on the police. People aware of criminal activity are not forth coming with the information. They know the criminal even if convicted will be back in a relatively short time. They also know upon the criminal's return retribution will be extracted. The criminal knows that if caught for the retribution they will once again be back soon. It is their cost of doing business.
Those wishing to coddle criminals never understand when prisons are full and exceeding capacity, crime statistics are down.
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