If that ain't symbolism, I don't know what is.
We often forget that a healthy community requires appropriate *cooperation* between the citizens and authorities. That means that folks should keep an eye on the authorities, but also respect that they are usually doing their best, and are generally good at their jobs. But it also means that the authorities need to respect their citizens, and recognize that they are not, by and large, dumb, careless or easily panicked.
We're all trying to keep everybody safe. That works best when *everybody* is helping out.
(There are limits to that, of course -- some jobs need to be left to the specialists, and some folks really are kind of thick. But generally, a million eyes can accomplish a lot more than a thousand, even when that thousand are well-trained. Sometimes, informing and trusting the citizenry is a good idea...)
