[brokenmachine]

Are people really that scared of police in the US that they wouldn't return some lost property to them?

I'm Australian and the idea of that blows me away. Like a third-world country. I've seen all the videos of shootings and disgraceful behaviour but I thought those were probably all rare incidents in bad neighbourhoods.

Here in Australia, I've had nothing but professional interactions with our police. I wouldn't hesitate to call them if there was a need or take a lost object to them.

Our laws are certainly heading more and more in a scary direction however.

[vinay427]

> Are people really that scared of police in the US that they wouldn't return some lost property to them?

No, this seems like an unusual perspective in the US especially for something as simple as dropping off a wallet.

[mandelbrotwurst]

Some are and some aren’t. I wouldn’t call it an “unusual” perspective as the sibling commenter did here, but I would say it’s probably not the perspective of the majority. It’s also going to vary depending on who you are and where you are.

Because the cost of being arrested, shot, etc. is quite high, it’s arguably logical to avoid most if not all interactions with them even if the odds of something going wrong seem relatively low, particularly when you have little to nothing to gain from engaging.

Even if you calculate that you’re not at significant personal risk from engaging, it might make sense to do so for other reasons, e.g. in solidarity with others who are targeted unfairly, and/or (plausibility of this aside) to simply attempt to get along without them.