[BlueTrain]

It's funny that someone mentions the fire department. Once upon a time there was no public city operated fire department. There were variations of private and volunteer fire companies but they wouldn't put out just anyone's fire. You had to have their little badge on the front of your house. That's what those antique looking things are that you see in a few old towns in the East. If you lived out in the country, you were out of luck. Even today, you're pretty much out of luck if you live out in the country some places. Insurance? You can't afford it if there's no fire department. In town, however, someone finally had the bright idea that it might not be such a bad idea to put out every fire before the whole town burned down.

Likewise with the police. Regular police departments were a long time coming and armed policemen (with firearms, that is) were even later. Other places folks relied on constables (the J.P.'s man), the sheriff (the county judge's man) and US Marshalls in unorganized territories, which has been a while. Standards varied greatly, all were low. Things have changed.

I would have to say that many departments might prefer to train their own police recruits rather than having to retrain someone's own ideas of law enforcement. And I suspect many recruits in both the police and the military are a little let down when they realize that things may not always be exactly the way they thought they'd be. As for the military, I sort of think that it was harder for volunteers than draftees when the army didn't measure up to their own expectations.

Marines never have that problem.