4th Gen warfare = community policing

Funnily enough, one of the things that CA cops (and many other states' cops) used to get criticised for was not getting out of their cars--for using them like tanks in hostile territory. Here's a good story about about some cop reservists who understand "hearts and minds" as more than just a chapter from their TRADOC or war college manuals--a Sacramento Sherrif, now a LT, doing his thing....

military.com

What has enabled Lt. Waters and his unit of California National Guardsmen to get it right? Lt. Waters is a cop. Specifically, he is a sheriff from Sacramento. He is dealing with the people of Baghdad the same way he deals with the people back home, politely and with a genuine desire to help. His unit has not killed anyone because Lt. Waters knows cops succeed by de-escalating, not by escalating violence. Cops try very hard not to kill people. In fact, cops don't want to fight at all.

Just as having soldiers who want to fight is important in Second and Third Generation war, so not wanting to fight is key to success in the Fourth Generation. Any fight, whether won or lost, ultimately works against an outside power that is trying to damp down a Fourth Generation conflict. Fighting ramps up disorder, and Fourth Generation entities thrive on disorder. Disorder undermines the local government's legitimacy, because disorder proves that government cannot provide security. Fighting usually means that locals get killed, and when that happens, the relatives and friends of the casualties are then obliged to join the fight to get revenge. Violence escalates, when success requires de-escalation.

There's more. The author, William Lind is a conservative who's got cred with Marines and other branches since his early, definitive work on defining 4th Gen Warfare. Yes, Virginia. It's not big ordnance and faux-John Waynes anymore.