I'm questioning the rationale of people being willing to commit premeditated murder against the people that would probably bring about one of the fiercest responses from the police but not being willing to drive to the next town over.
It reinforces the odd notion that police are living in a warzone where they must always be on guard because someone is always out to get them. That isn't a healthy mindset for someone who is supposed to be a public servant.
Of course they would be willing to drive the next town over if they REALLY wanted to premeditated murder them. OTOH, the town drunk, who got angry because the cop hassled him is walking by his apartment and sees the cop who hassled him through his window or walking into his apartment spontaneously decided he is going to toss a cherry bomb though his window or grab his gun and unload it into his apartment, that is far more likely to happen if the cop lives next door to the guy. Some guy who is on drugs, drunk and pissed off just spontaneously saying "I'll show him" is far more likely and frequent than a serial killed hunting the cop down. Both actually do happen, but the probability and frequency it happens can be impacted by the location of the actual officer.
Of course that isn't a healthy mindset, yet, often it IS their mindset due to what they have actually had to deal with due to the nature of their job. We have some really nasty criminals here and being forced to interact with them puts these officers on the criminals radar for retaliation. When talking about criminals who literally still carry out hits on people outside while they are in prison, the cops have good reason for concern. Due to this " coming with the territory" of their job, that is why I say compensation in both paid time off and their pay itself as well as vacation benefits and ample psychological treatment. All of these things should be considered necessary compensation due to the nature of the job itself. If we are going to expect a person to do a job that necessarily involves traumatizing them and exposing them to extreme dangers, we very well better be providing them with what is needed to treat their PTSD and other psychological conditions that are a result of the job itself while also not reprimanding them for having to do so by not paying them while they have to take time off.
If we want our officers to not make mistakes or have PTSD episodes on the job due to the extreme environment and stress they are under, we have to reduce their hours, financially compensate them for doing so as well as provide them with the resources they need to be able to better adjust to the hazards of their jobs. Police often do feel like they are in a war zone because what they have to deal with often causes the same trauma that they would experience in a war zone. If we want to help change that, we have to address reducing the stress on the officers themselves.