Not so fun fact cops were invented to prevent people like us from stealing crates in the harbor 200 years ago. They used to be just upper class people who patrolled the port. They didn't always exist, so it's just as possible for them to cease to exist. A society without goons in blue is possible.
Cops protect the owners of the country.
edit: Why can't we commoners set up our own force to protect us the regular people?
They also don't have armies in star trek, like, if it makes senses to send 5 armed people why wouldn't it make sense to send platoons or batallions in some cases? it is always individual enemies they never seem to face entire armies on foot.
Oh I didn't get that far, I do remember Data's whole exploring his roots/dad episode from back in the 90s when I watched at the time. But haven't gotten that far in rewatches yet.
That would explain why they can't back him up to hdd. They probably wouldn't get all the permissions for all the folders right so a restore from backup would probably not work.
lol