"I've taken some serious lickings and I've witnessed the same happen to others".

Fortunately that's ALL that happened. Come on down to Oakland, CA. We have several murders (stabbings, shootings, etc) basically every month. Try to stop or apprehend a criminal down here and you'd better have your weapon drawn with the guy in your sights before you even make your presence known (yeah, even with the pettiest of crimes). A bit different from getting beat up.