Go back to basics. What did a police officer (PC) carry and what did he do?

In the UK and a number of colonial situations the PC had a uniform (including boots to walk in), a whistle, a personal weapon (not always a firearm) and a notebook. Some training in law and procedure - often more "learnt on the job".

Jump forward to today and place the PC in 'Chaos Country' (hat tip to Tom Odom). Uniform (less not more), communication device (radio, mobile phone etc), weaponary, training (far more maybe), trainers and transport even and a notebook (yes I concede in Chaos illiteracy and informal conflict resolution maybe factors).

I cannot believe that a proper assessment is lacking before deployment of trainers, PTT etc and resourcing. That's the advantage of an armchair.

davidbfpo