[psyc]

That's exactly what I said to my ever-so-slightly conscious girlfriend 25 years ago. I still feel embarrassed about it to this day. Even my long gone grandparents wondered so, socratically.

A bit more constructively: I suppose if everyone everywhere taught their kids the police are there to help, the way the Electric Company taught me, then that specific problem might be alleviated. Perhaps with unintended consequences. But I basically had to unlearn it, and for them it would require a comfort with a level of cognitive dissonance that I'm sure no individual can sustain, let alone a whole community. At least if you accept their history is separate. Like, my ancestors on my dad's side came here in the 1600's too, but they were on the top of the boat.