Why do people open their doors to strangers without police supervision?

Question

Why doesn't the police offer a service to provide such supervision?In particular, if a stranger knocks on your door and you would like to open the door to talk to them, you could use this service to bring a police officer to supervise the interaction to make sure nothing bad happens.

dragonwriter · Accepted Answer

You can hire private security for this function. Or you can just not answer your door except for people who know or have prescreened.Such a general service would require such a massive expansion of the police that even if you are in the demographic currently well-served by the police it would be no better than inviting another stranger (but guaranteed to be armed).

MattGaiser · Answer

1. That would require an significantly increased number of police given the number of day to day interactions. There is already a shortage of police.2. Why not just keep the door closed if you suspect such a thing? What could a stranger want that would be worth the hassle of getting a police officer that would be worth it? I personally never bother answer the doorbell unless there is a package coming I know I must sign for. Everyone else is selling some poor value service or product.

mimon · Answer

In addition to being completely impractical and unnecessary, you are significantly more likely to be harmed by the police officer than by the random stranger.

thfuran · Answer

They probably do it because they aren't driven solely by paranoia and fear.

dave4420 · Answer

Why would people not phone instead?I&rsquo;m struggling to understand the motivation.I think if trust in society had fallen enough that people wanted a service like this, then people would not trust the police to provide it, and the government would not be able to afford to fund it.

jaclaz · Answer

That would require far too many policemen.
Strangers that have an intention to knock on doors should go to the Police beforehand, state the reason why they want to knock on someone's door and be given a special ID and "license to knock".
When they knock on your door, they show you the ID and licence, that you can scan via a dedicated app that authenticates the person and uploads the date/time of the visit in a database[1] managed by the police, and you remain free to not let them in or open the door to them.
[1] or maybe a blockchain could be used instead

uberman · Answer

If you felt you needed police protection to answer the door when a stranger knocked, why not just not answer the door?

deserialized · Answer

What a paranoid worldview lmao

Why do people open their doors to strangers without police supervision?

Why doesn't the police offer a service to provide such supervision?
In particular, if a stranger knocks on your door and you would like to open the door to talk to them, you could use this service to bring a police officer to supervise the interaction to make sure nothing bad happens.

In addition to being completely impractical and unnecessary, you are significantly more likely to be harmed by the police officer than by the random stranger.

They probably do it because they aren't driven solely by paranoia and fear.

Why would people not phone instead?
I’m struggling to understand the motivation.
I think if trust in society had fallen enough that people wanted a service like this, then people would not trust the police to provide it, and the government would not be able to afford to fund it.

If you felt you needed police protection to answer the door when a stranger knocked, why not just not answer the door?

What a paranoid worldview lmao