&gt; It isn&#x27;t just isolated incidents of power trips in individuals. It is a culture that sustains itself. Maybe it is just human nature.<p>This behavior would not happen in the absence of a State-granted monopoly on power. Libertarian thinkers propose privatizing the police forces to avoid this very behavior. The customer (taxpayer) would not stand for its police force acting in such a way, and they would go out of business.<p>&gt; I shouldn&#x27;t be partisan in this case that affects all of us across party lines but doggamn Justice Scalia! ...<p>As sad as that situation was, I&#x27;m glad they ruled as they did. Can you imagine if the State was required to protect certain individual citizens, no matter what? There would be some sort of security posted at lost of random houses all the time, and we would have to pay for it! And what if two protected individuals got into a fight? Would the officers be required to fight against the other party?<p>I come down strongly on the side of the right of self-defense: of course the police are not required to protect you! It&#x27;s simply tragic when the state removes your right to protect yourself while refusing to protect you as well.