(08-14-2016, 10:27 PM)Kinser79 Wrote: My take is simple. A neighborhood watch is just that, a watch. Their role is to watch the neighborhood and then call the police if they witness or suspect a crime taking place. When they try to take on the role of law enforcement, which they are not, they can and probably will end up killing (though not necessarily murdering) noncriminal elements.
Precisely. The cops are trained to use deadly force, which implies ensuring that someone who attacks a cop faces as unfair a fight as possible. Being arrested isn't that bad an experience if the cops and you behave. If you must choose between implicating yourself and being arrested, then take the arrest.
Neighborhood Watch has its value as eyes and ears of a police force stretched too thin for the level of crime, but it is not trained to use deadly force. Hear an escalating family fight? Call the cops. See a drug deal going down? Call the cops. See someone who seems not to belong in the area taking stuff out a window? Call the cops. See someone looking into cars for keys in the ignition or valuables to be taken? Call the cops. Get a whiff of a strange chemical smell? Call the cops. Hear gunfire? Call the cops. See someone driving with obvious impairment? Call the cops.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.