This is one of the most misunderstood aspects of patrol work for law enforcement. It is never just as easy as gearing up and heading out there to dispense justice judiciously. A lot of the time you have to deal with bosses and commanding officer's who rarely, if ever, do patrol work or any actual police work outside their administrative jobs and when they do they almost always have capable officers with them when (not if) they need help doing the job. One of the biggest weights on patrol officer's backs (other than the 30+ pounds of gear) is the thought of what their commanding officer will do to them if they are made to look bad. This can come in many forms, sometimes it happens during high stress situations, sometimes it happens because that commanding officer has to do a lot of paperwork when they do not like paperwork. Either way there is always a lot of factors in the political aspect of the patrol officers daily work that the general public never sees and rarely hears about.