As harsh as this sounds, people have lost respect and no longer fear the police so giving them a little extra power will at least restore some respect. I'm not meaning that they should go in hammer and tongs with a no fs given attitude, I'm meaning train more 'trusted' law enforcement officers to use tasers etc.
The problem with prosecution is that they will get off lightly because the prisons are full to capacity so it's very unlikely they'll be given the punishment they deserve so they'll never learn and they'll just carry on re offending.
I do agree that if the army are needed it should only be when law enforcement are over run, but part of me see it as being a waste of valuable resources just for the sake of a bunch of scumbags who are running around acting like Billy big bollocks when they could train and arm all front-line officers with Tasers.