Quote Originally Posted by Palanan View Post
Definitely so. There will be widespread looting and hoarding starting immediately afterward, together with panic buying from whatever stores are still open. With only half the number of police, most areas will be helpless to stop it for days or weeks, and this will merge with the broader wave of other crimes

And there will be a whole spectrum of armed gangs, some of them criminals from the outset and others attempting to form neighborhood patrols. On a local level, I would expect a few of the better-prepared groups to take over warehouse stores like CostCo and Sam’s Club, since those have enough food on-site to keep a gang going for some time. And all the surviving disaster preppers will be hunkered down saying “I told you so.”

At some point, the government will try to reassert itself with martial law, but that could take quite a while. Simply moving troops around will be a major challenge, since most highways and city streets will probably be cluttered with abandoned vehicles, and the military will have half the normal personnel for flying, fueling and repairing their aircraft. The first few weeks or months will be chaos writ large, and I wouldn’t expect anything near government control for at least a year—and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were still small-scale warlords and gang enclaves in pockets everywhere, especially in the larger cities, persisting for years. And of course there will be any number of lunatics, nutbars and fringe groups proclaiming their own republics and/or the end times.
I'd expect the suicide rate to spike too. And lots of people to die because their medication got disrupted or their surgery got pushed out due to the original surgeon getting dusted.

Animal shelters and orphanages would be busier but not sure if they'd be crowded since half their original charges would be gone. But they'd definitely be short staffed.

How well would utilities fare do you think? I'm not sure how much human interaction occurs at, say, the local power plant.