The state often delegates extraordinary powers to local authorities in rebellious regions, hoping this will help them enforce its policy. These officials and police, however, do not completely identify with the government's agenda. They may abuse this power for their profit and be more coercive than the government intends, thereby frustrating the government's effort to balance force and reforms. Totalitarian states conduct pacification with less restraint than democracies because of indifference to civil rights, the low value placed on human life, the supremacy of decrees over law, the tendency to make ideologically motivated and ruthless decisions, and the elevated role of security agencies compared with civilian institutions. In this context, the illegal actions of police and administrators, amplifying the brutality of official policy, may be the last straw in shifting public sentiment in favor of the guerrillas. Random violence committed by representatives of the authorities “defeats deterrence because it destroys the possibility of anticipation of a forthcoming evil and hence the ability to avoid it; it erases the relationship between crime and punishment. … Its sheer unpredictability makes everyone fear lethal sanctions regardless of their behavior; innocence is irrelevant, and compliance is utterly impossible.” People may join the resistance not because they share its ideals but because they cannot stand the government's employees.