First rule of living in the first world is avoid the police. Nothing good ever comes of a run in with cops, and you often get something bad.

I think cops are in untenable position. On one hand they occasionally have to go up against some truly evil characters. On the other they are supposed to be able to tell the mentally ill, but harmless, from the psychotic killer.

Perhaps we need a first line of policing that separates the merely confused from the viscous. But since we cut funding for mental hospitals I doubt we are going to find money for nice police.