Cops have a very dangerous job at times, but let's be clear:

[Savannahmann]

42. Interesting.

I'm stuck using 2008 numbers, but you'll see what I'm talking about in a minute. I am a writer. I considered a post apocalyptic novel, and did some research. It is not a subject that I have any real fascination about. Nor do I think that it will come about, but the books seem to be popular. So I've got some familiarity on the scenario.

Since there are about 1 million police officers in the nation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_enforcement_in_the_United_States

Let's say there are another 150,000 Federal Agents. We'll make it 1,250,000 badge carrying people with the power of arrest. I know, the numbers don't add up, but we'll add in the reserve officers and the recently retired that could be called back.

There are over 315 million people in the United States. There are already enough guns in the population to give every man, woman, and child over the age of 15 a gun. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/04/a-minority-of-americans-own-guns-but-just-how-many-is-unclear/

But let's say that the one percent of the population that are "police" are going to war with the rest of us. Even those without guns are hardly unarmed. Viet-Nam, Afghanistan, and Iraq has taught us that a poorly armed irregular force is not one to be taken lightly. So the Police would begin this war badly outnumbered, seriously outgunned, and almost certainly ill prepared.

But let's check that Dedication level shall we? Where were the police on day three of Katrina? We know they were in the city when Katrina hit. But we also know that a vast majority of them, as in nearly all, departed the city when the going got really tough. So the cops are prepared for two, or let's double that four days of real hardship.

So police as far as the community is concerned are at best, a fair weather friend. They're outnumbered three hundred to one. They're out gunned by more than two hundred to one. They may think they're trained for combat with all that military crap. But the veterans that would likely take charge of the irregular forces that would spring up would certainly know how to defeat that equipment.

So in a war, where the population turned against them, the police could conceivably control a few blocks in most cities, while being surrounded by an angry mob with vision colored by a red mist demanding blood.

Now, we've seen three hundred to one odds in the past. The Spartans of Thermopylae fame were part of a larger greek force that faced those kinds of odds according to legend. The defenders at the Alamo faced odds roughly half that. You could argue that the Spartan's were the most formidable force of their era. Yet those same Spartans were eventually defeated. I don't think we're going to propose the idea that the police are the equivalent of the Spartan Warriors of lore and legend.

Now, I think we've demonstrated that your FB friend is an idiot. My father had some advice for a cousin who had joined the military and had returned home with new Sergeant Stripes sewn to his sleeves. My father said that while leading those soldiers, every once in a while look over your shoulder to make sure they're still following you.

The Police should look over their shoulders about now, because their supporters are dwindling, and soon they're going to be standing in the Valley of the Little Big Horn and wondering where all those Indians came from. (I know they're called Native Americans or Indigenous Americans these days, but the joke doesn't work with that so please forgive me)