Popular culture teaches a near-equality between the forces of Good and Evil. For every Superman you must have a Doomsday. Therefore if we have an Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, we must also have nearly equally powerful armies ready to attack. Therefore if we have Police, Sheriff, SWAT, K-9, FBI, and National Guard there must also be domestic threats that nearly equal that strength. Pop Culture says that the good guys will always win, but just barely, and not without civilian casualties (and sometimes the good guys are the bad guys).
Reality presents a much different picture than popular culture. The forces of evil are not a mirror image of the forces of good. Rather than an army led by Cobra Commander we have problems more along the lines of homelessness. There is no leader to take down in order to defeat homelessness. No one for General Hawk and Snake Eyes to chase in a car, because in reality violence doesn’t pay.
The problem with the Pop Culture theory of Good vs. Evil is that in reality most people are inherently good. Violent criminals are typically desperate people making desperate attempts for money or power. There was an article in the news recently about a man who robbed the Red Apple Bar and Grill with a handgun and was spotted by police moments later just two miles directly south of the place that was robbed. They took one turn. One. Worst getaway driver ever. After the car stopped the man ran one block west and hid in a shed. One block. One. Worst escape attempt ever.
There is little economic gain in being a violent criminal. Robbing places for cash isn’t going to get you very much money compared to the risks involved, so the only people who rob places are those ignorant of the risks or desperate enough that they accept the risks. None of them are smart or careful enough to plan things out like we see in The Italian Job, Heat, or Ocean’s Eleven. My longstanding theory is that anyone smart enough to be a good criminal is smart enough to realize that crime is a terrible way to make a buck.