Everyone should be horrified and appalled by the attacks on police in Dunedin over the weekend.
Police officers act on behalf of the community performing vital roles.
In a real sense they are society's guardians, and, as such, they warrant support in every way possible.
That backing should not be uncritical, but must be strong and emphatic.
While attacks on police are nothing new, their frequency and severity are increasing.
Drugs and the P epidemic are often to blame particularly because of the nasty way methamphetamine kills off empathy or any sense of right or wrong.
Alcohol continues to play its part in many incidents, as do underlying cultural currents.
Ironically, at a time of progress in making domestic violence and serious corporal punishment unacceptable, violence is all the more common on the streets.
This is a worldwide western phenomenon that can be linked to the breakdown of traditional family, society and religious moral structures and controls.
The clock cannot be turned back, and a modern world that is more tolerant of differences is positive in many ways. But also lost has been security, clear guidelines and the reassurance of relative simplicity.
Nihilism and fatalism and a disregard of consequences are much more common these days.
If you do not care for yourself or for others and are ambivalent about the future then you are much less likely to take any responsibility for what you do.
Problems increase with a growing underclass that often feels it has little stake in society and little purpose.
That manifests itself in antisocial violence against property, people and police.
The perpetrators of assaults on police, however, also come from other sectors of society, and people of all ages and all sectors of society are occasionally part of the malaise, part of the lack of respect and decency.
In the first weekend incident, as reported by police, a 21-year-old man, after a routine vehicle stop, punched a police officer from behind in the back of the head while he was talking to the female driver and knocked him unconscious.
Fortunately, another passenger intervened when the man reportedly continued to strike the officer while he was on the ground.
At other times they might have joined in.
In the second incident, two women police officers went to a St Kilda property to see if a man was complying with bail-related curfew and alcohol restrictions.
They believed he had been drinking and when it looked like he was going to be arrested he allegedly punched one officer "up to 30 times".
Compounding matters were the alleged involvement of the man's partner, and of a 15-year-old boy and a dog, which police said bit the second woman police officer and male officer who came to help.
These occurrences, and the shocking assault on an Oamaru officer last year, and assaults and disrespect in other small towns, show that the South - to our shame - is far from immune. Communities here, as elsewhere, cannot tolerate assaults on police and, must abhor them.
The Government, through the Sentencing Act, is moving to make assaults on police or prison officers an aggravating offence, and it is looking into how well existing special offences relate to assaults on law enforcement officers, with a report due in June.
Unfortunately, many drunk and drugged louts are unlikely to be deterred whatever the potential outcome. Hopefully, though, such laws can signal society's revulsion.
Police, for their part, are limited in what they can do to change attitudes and engender appropriate respect, particularly when dealing with criminals. Sometimes, though, there are signs of a disconnect between police officers and the mainstream community.
Given the challenges of their jobs, their shared experiences and their shift work, there can be a tendency to develop an inward-looking attitude.
Police, too, have to remember they are both community representatives and part of the community.
They have to ensure they do not develop a separate culture, live separate lives, lose touch with their fellow citizens.
A large number, nevertheless, do join in - with their interests and their families - in school, sport and other aspects of life.
Assaults on "our" police officers are totally unacceptable and everything possible must be done to curb them.
Horror and disgust continue to be the appropriate responses.
Sadly, however, such attacks no longer surprise.
