Not that it should matter, but around here half of our ‘police force’ are volunteers. They buy their own equipment, they don’t get paid. They might get the use of the vehicle, but that’s it.
I believe it is written down somewhere exactly what the local police are being paid to do. Might be different for each force, not sure. But things like serving warrants, investigating crimes. Notice I said inveastigating, not preventing.
Hypothetically, even if they were being paid to prevent or protect. How long does it take from start to finish before your average crime is done and over? Less time than it takes for the police to show up usually.
And if they happen to be in the right place at the right time, what happens if they mis interpret who the bad guy is? Or it’s kinda murky who the bad guy is? Even if they KNOW who the bad guy is, they can still be sued in a civil suit for bodily harm (pretty sure). That’s zero motivation to just jump in and save the day.
As for provding first aid, I go back to the civil suit problem. This is true for the average joe too. If you don’t live somewhere with good samaritan laws, you can be in a world of hurt if things don’t go well. People sue for the stupidist stuff, they don’t care that you were trying to help. They straight up argue that if you don’t have the training of a combat medic you shouldn’t be trying to help. How many people have indepth field medicine training?
Jeez, humanity shoots itself in the foot on a regular basis. Our own behavior as a group has led us here, where no one wants to get involved.
<end rant>