Police Are Not Your Security Guards
DAPHNE Ala.
By Rick McCann
BlueRAMMedia.com
March 10, 2025
I recently read a local social media post talking about how lazy certain police officers were in one area community because a person had called the police about something that was a “civil” dispute, and no criminal laws had been broken. Therefore, the police could not get involved in the situation and that was not acceptable to this person.
In other recent social media comments during the past year, folks have also posted that if cops would get off their butts and do more work, their car wouldn’t have been broken into.
Unfortunately, the police can’t be everywhere all the time and that’s just the plain truth. Even if there was a cop on every corner, crime would still exist, especially unpredictable crimes such as murder, domestic violence, assaults, and other violent crimes.
Property crimes such as shoplifting, burglary, vandalism aka criminal mischief, or other thefts are also difficult to predict unless the cops are also mindreaders.
Police were never meant to be a security guard for a community or an individual.
The police forces, as we know them today, were formed to maintain order, prevent crime, and ensure the safety of communities, not individuals. They are there to protect the entire town collectively.
During the past fifty years, there have been many changes in policing including the increased demand for law enforcement to be all things to all people.
The role of the law enforcer has been diminished by the demand for non-police calls for service.
Police who were meant to be proactive are now in most areas reactive and unable to actively prevent crime because of the forced roles they now must take on.
The modern-day police officer must now be a mediator, a medic, a counselor, and a lawyer, and wear a dozen or more hats, all the while, taking them away from their main role of policing and protecting the community.
Thousands of times a day, and right here in Alabama, police are called to situations that they are not trained to deal with nor that are part of a police officer’s role.
People believe that it’s the job of the police to guard their homes and businesses, but it isn’t.
It’s the job of each individual to live safely, take all necessary precautions, use reasonable safeguards to protect their homes and businesses and themselves, and call law enforcement to report crime or suspicious activities when reasonably prudent.
The use of security guards is a common practice for many businesses as is
the installation of extra lighting, burglar alarms, and surveillance.
All of these are excellent preventative measures that one can take to protect their property.
Of course, law enforcement will patrol through some private commercial properties when time allows for it, and they’ll respond to any home or business when someone calls 911 for help but the police are not security guards that will watch every house, every business, or every community.
Now, more than ever, nationwide, police are understaffed and underfunded, and recruitment in many areas, has dropped to some of the lowest numbers in the history of policing.
After the Defund the Police movement, people were discouraged from applying to become law enforcement officers, while many others left the profession, acknowledging that the disrespect, the low pay, and the lack of support from their employer were some of the reasons to retire early.
Some areas substantially reduced the types of calls for service that they would respond to including shoplifting, noise complaints, burglar alarm activations, crimes not in progress, vandalism, and calls related to marijuana use within a home unless there’s an immediate threat or evidence of a crime. Some police agencies also do not respond to minor traffic accidents with no injuries, children misbehaving or disobeying parents, and other non-violent situations.
In some communities, police departments are still unable to hire police officers because budgets have been frozen, or money that was taken out of the police department several years ago, has not been returned.
As an example of where the police stand here, along Alabama’s Gulf Coast, as of December 2023, the Gulf Shores Police Department had 58 sworn officers, and Orange Beach police employ about 65 sworn officers.
That might sound like quite a few officers for two cities that have 16, 580 and 8,520 permanent residents.
But, when you factor in that the city of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach see as many as 8 million visitors a year, 123 police officers, is a slim margin, and every year the increased calls that police are dispatched to continue to rise substantially.
Years ago, the Alabama Gulf Coast was considered a tourist area that drew people to its beaches just during the spring and summer but no more.
The Alabama Gulf Coast now draws visitors to the area year-round and continues to become a four-season destination for events, shopping, concerts, festivals, and relaxation meaning that for the police, there is no longer a slowdown period or a little time off to catch their breath.
Police in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, officers along the Eastern Shore, and law enforcement in Mobile County are still providing a high level of service, reasonable response times, and quality policing.
But how much longer will they be able to maintain this level of service?
How long will it be until police departments no longer respond to activated burglar alarms, non-injury accidents, minor offenses, or civil disputes?
While area police and fire departments have seen a commitment to public safety from community leaders who understand that with rapid growth comes added crime, increased public safety calls, and societal issues, people need to understand that certain issues are not within the scope of law enforcement or the fire department.
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