I was watching "Cocaine Cowboys" last night, it's a documentary on the explosion of the cocaine industry in Miami. It's very interesting. They go into great detail about when the violence between rival cartels and dealers peaked, and shootouts in public places were becoming more and more commonplace. That's when the Miami PD issued a statement. It wasn't "we've got this under control"... it was "We can no longer protect you, we advise you arm yourselves".
I just found that interesting and somewhat relevant. I don't think there is a department in the nation these days that would ever venture to admit they didn't have a situation under control, much less for the public to arm themselves for their own safety.