Yuyutsu,
That's what the Mac dictionary says about Patron;

1 a person who gives financial or other support to a person, organization, or cause: a celebrated patron of the arts.
• a distinguished person who takes an honorary position in a charity: the Mental Health Foundation, of which Her Royal Highness is Patron.
2 a customer of a shop, restaurant, etc., especially a regular one: we surveyed the plushness of the hotel and its sleek, well-dressed patrons.
3 Roman History a patrician in relation to a client.
• the former owner and (frequently) protector of a freed slave.
4 British, mainly historical a person or institution with the right to grant a benefice to a member of the clergy.

Dear Individual,

Call it "employer" if you prefer modern language - an employer is just one type of patron.

Yuyutsu,
I abhor the bastardisation of modern language so, I prefer to call the "clients" of the Police senseless & selfish crap-heads. The stray lump of lead catching up with some of them on odd occasions should be considered a warranted consequence.

Diver dan,
I respond to your suggestion that it costs the US $100,000 to train their cops.
I'd say that's a pretty reasonable return on investment, as I reckon each cop will have collected $100,000 in a few months.
Don't forget the courts and the income from them which are mostly due to the cops and their "tax collection"duties.

Dear ALTRAV,

Have you costed prisons, I wonder, and courts too are not cheap.

I think that after taking all into consideration, the bottom line for this exercise is negative.

Yuyutsy,
and yet they persist in raking in the money.
If it is that expensive to house and feed prisoners, they simply step up the cops 'hit' rate, and hey presto, they're in the black/money again.
Don't worry, if it's one thing these scum-bags know, is how to rip-off the public.