&gt; Why would I approve of, say, the LAPD any more than I would approve of the MVSN?<p>I had to look up MVSN.  They were the Italian Fascist Blackshirt thugs.<p>If you think life in LA would be improved by the absence of the LAPD, I strongly question your grasp on reality.  If you think the LAPD hassles people they shouldn&#x27;t, beats them up, and sometimes kills them, you&#x27;re almost certainly correct.  But if you think that, in the absence of the LAPD, the total number of beatings and killings would go <i>down</i>, you&#x27;re dreaming.