Where are the police?...

[HorrorHiro]

I rather like the thought of the Mallers killing the former law enforcement for whatever reason. But if I had to take a wild guess I'd say many officers were killed by people Mallers or not. The 1st responders to the outbreak(s) were most likely quickly overrun and killed or turned. Theres probably police officers at the Colony though.

[Cabbage Patch]

Anyone interested in a scary scenario showing how a police force could be quickly over-run in an zombie outbreak should read "The Infection" by Craig DiLouie. The story tells about an outbreak in Pittsburgh that has a lot of similarities to the one in "We're Alive". The infected bite the un-infected, who are briefly sick, then rapidly turn and join in the attack on the un-infected. The scene in question features a major police station at shift change. A small group of infected burst in, overwhelming the police in the lobby and blocking the escape of the un-infected officers. At first the police worry about hurting civilians even as more and more of their number get turned. By the time the police escalate to lethal force they are trapped, hopelessly outnumbered, and most of the ones attacking them are former colleagues and friends. In the end a single officer survives by jumping out of a window. Everything happens in the span of about 10 minutes.

[nikvoodoo]

I think the reality is the LAPD/SWAT teams responded to the "riots" and got annihilated. The army and army reserve would be called in after the first responders have already been brought in and got overwhelmed. Remember that the news crews had a chance to set up remote broadcasts, even at the quickest it would take at least 30 minutes to do that. By that time, any officer on duty would have been called into the heart of the riot.

Off duty officers would be called into stations (much like Michael, Saul and Angel were for the army reserve). Odds are, those police officers called in would have been sent not into the riots directly, but to the outer skirts of the riot to try to contain it from spreading. They get over run just as quickly as the outbreak spreads. Now you have stragglers who might have missed the call for whatever reason (just got off the overnight), they have the same chance of survival as any other survivor which is not so hot.

It's true that the further away from the epicenter the odds are the orders are different. LAPD would have been sent in to squash the riot because that seems to be the best course of action. That would have been the priority. San Diego PD would have been sent out in the streets to organize evacuations and things like that since there was no direct outbreak of violence to confuse the authorities in that part of the state and they would have learned that these weren't normal riots faster being removed from the situation.

[HaveCrowBarWillTravel]

All we have to do is look at real world scenarios like the Rodney King riots, the Anarchy riots in Greece and the recent riots in the UK to see how the local authorities would fare. Tear gas won't work (on the undead versions at least), There aren't enough heavy weapons and they won't deploy with them first off anyway.

[usmcludwig]

To add my two-sense into things- in season 1- you see an immediate nose-dive in law and order.
With this- you kinda have to phase out things like police, firemen and the sort.
Not because they aren't there, but because having them there would be a symbol of order- a false-order since society is already crippled.
Besides- you already have those symbols in Micheal, Angel and Saul, maybe even Burt.
To throw in more things would mislead the sub-councious direction of things.
As for what happened to them within the story- all purely speculation.
I kinda highly doubt any would be wearing their uniforms this far into it all.
My opinion is that the majority are dead- just like the military due to invalid technique and lack of vital intel on the hows and whats of the threat on hand.
Police are just survivors with guns. Its not the guns and training that saves ya- its the application of decisiveness.

[Cabbage Patch]

To add my two-sense into things- in season 1- you see an immediate nose-dive in law and order.
With this- you kinda have to phase out things like police, firemen and the sort...I kinda highly doubt any would be wearing their uniforms this far into it all.

I can see the advantages to there not being any police, or organized government in evidence, both in the interests of realism (they would be over-run fast, as illustrated in the prior posts) and for the story, where their presence would be a distraction. But I think that any surviving public safety officers would continue to wear their uniforms. Remember that Michael, Angel and Saul decided to wear their military uniforms for the symbolic value, and they continue to do so to this point in the story. Besides, uniforms tend to be rugged and they have lots of useful pockets.

[usmcludwig]

That's not true.
Michael specifically doesn't wear his uniform when he is going to the Colony.
Besides that- it is only clear that Saul continues to wear his uniform (as said when showing Tonya the picture of his wounds at the Colony)
But if you want to go on a trend of realism- wearing the same set of clothes for months on end is not viable.
I would much rather be in clean clothes than my cammies (or BDU's in their case), a real goal in long-term hygienic survival.
Besides- for the inner-tower people, it is Michael, Saul and Angel who represent the order- not just their uniforms.

[dontkillburt]

I think they need to go back and check all the donut shops for PD survivors. Randy's maybe (an L.A. landmark), but it's real close to the outbreak area.

300px-Randys_donuts.jpg

[Cabbage Patch]

I think they need to go back and check all the donut shops for PD survivors. Randy's maybe (an L.A. landmark), but it's real close to the outbreak area.

Could this be "the" Randy? Was Michael just craving doughnuts the two times he mentioned that name?

randys-doughnuts-los-angeles-ca-photo-by-thomas-hawk.jpg

[JusticePain]

I'm guessing they are turned or dead