Are Police at Worksites Necessary?

I frequently use Exit 9 on the Garden State Parkway to see my mother, who lives at Brookdale. Recently, one of the underground pipes on Bayberry Drive above Shellbay Avenue broke, and a block of the street was closed to repair the damage.
There were manned police cars with their lights on at both ends of the obstructed area, and the police cars were behind traffic cones.
Because the Herald received complaints from the public about spending money to employ police in this way, I decided to speak to the officers. I inquired whether they found their presence at the site useful given that traffic was barred.
The young officer at the north end of the road was defensive. He told me to speak to his lieutenant, adding that he was assigned to the job, and was not responsible for the decision to be there.
I told him that I was asking him because, being on the site, he’d know if there was a beneficial purpose being served. He replied that for the safety of the workers and the public, he needed to be there.
I walked to the opposite end of the street and talked to the young officer there. His demeanor was altogether different. He explained that motorists occasionally drive through the cones even though the police are there with their lights ablaze.
He added, “This is the way they always drive home. It is their habit, and to drive around the block to go a different way doesn’t seem to occur to them as a possibility.”
In chatting with him, I mentioned the complaints that we received about wasting peoples’ money. He said taxpayers’ money doesn’t pay them.
I replied that at the end of the day, someone is paying, and that someone is the public. He agreed and said he doesn’t want his money wasted either, but that police presence is necessary.
I told him that I’d carry that message back and tell the people that if you don’t want to see your money spent this way, be careful at construction sites.
However, there is a larger and more important issue at play than money.
We need to ask ourselves, “Do we, the public, have to be fearful to get us to do what is right?”
Do we want to devolve into a police state like China, where the government monitors the behavior of people to ensure compliance? That is the polar opposite of what America is, and is not the America we want bequeathed to our children and grandchildren.