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About 15 years ago, when I was still an active duty LEO, I guess that I "locked down" an entire neighborhood. There had been a gang-related shooting which ended up with 4 gang members dead (Believe it or not, but the incident started at a Baptismal party, when a rival gang tried to "crash" the party!)
There were numerous residents who came out to see what was going on, and since there was the possibility of the shooters still being in the area, I asked whoever I saw to PLEASE go back inside their homes and lock the doors. I didn't direct them to their "basements", nor did I even think of telling them to ARM themselves in their residences. That would have been entirely up to THEM to do! All I did was to try to "sterilize" the area to a certain extent, and to cut down on the number of victims by ASKING the residents to go inside. Later, when none of the shooters had been found, my partner and I made sure to knock on doors and tell the residents that we were going to leave the area. I also explained what had taken place, and was THANKED by many of those residents.
It's sure easy to "bash" the police! Having been a LEO, it often amazes me at how little credit is given to those who have chosen that profession! Instead, the less than 1% who are "rotten apples" get pushed into the limelight as an "example", while the 99% of the GOOD ones get NO notice at all!
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