Cambria California polices themselves!

[hunter]

11. Well, sort of.

I read stories here on DU about places where the police are always in everyone's business and actually show up when called for things like minor acts of shoplifting, burglary, vandalism, fender-benders, drinking a beer at a public park with alcohol restrictions, etc..

Where I live in California the police or sheriffs don't reliably show up unless someone is bleeding or on fire. They don't hang out at WalMart waiting to scold teenage girls stealing lipstick, or people walking out the front door with televisions they didn't pay for. WalMart, Target, Safeway, etc., hire their own security.

Police and sheriff departments are perpetually understaffed here, probably because of high housing costs and the relentless sordidness of the work, some of it originating from within the departments themselves.

I'm certain a guy working in the local liquor store has done plenty of policing himself.