Comment by 1-800-throwaway

Honestly, this take sounds extremely naive. Most public employees have no authority and certainly aren't roaming the streets with guns roughing people up. They're doing office work. And you know who takes up an outsized share of their time? Completely unhinged members of the public, who can't be told to "go away" like they could at any other job, because the government must serve everyone, by law, no matter how kooky they are. You shouldn't be signing up to be easily harassed and threatened in your personal life just by taking a public sector job. See my other comment for some examples.