You didn't ask me, but . . . I don't agree. There is a huge difference between no fuel and not enough fuel. I expect that the government (and trucks) will have fuel even if its availability to the people is very limited. Frankly, I'd feel safer if the government was immobilized in a SHTF situation, but I expect them to be meddling, always a day late and a dollar short, and then second guessing what we do in response to the chaos. However, I don't think they will have the manpower to search homes at random. Those who are prepared simply have to avoid letting untrustworthy neighbors know (and avoid letting even the trustworthy ones know more than necessary).
Think about it - from the beginning there is no power to get fuel out of the tanks. They can hook up generators for a time to produce power to get the fuel out but then there is no more to pump and no more will be going back in those tanks - trucks can't run to bring more fuel. There are millions of cop types across the country and fuel will be used up right away. What amount they have at the beginning isn't going to be used to go house to house to gather what we have. Any large warehouses with water/food across the country WILL be opened to truck out water/food - what fuel there is will be used for that and trying to put down riots.
If there is no power across the nation, everything stops, period, and that includes fuel.
A collapse encompasses everything and that includes cops who can't get to work, National Guard that can't report for orders, National Military who, if they can move, will try to safeguard National Security areas and they won't be interested in us peons.
Here is what will happen: My county was without power for five days after Ike. Before Ike got here, all gasoline/diesel was gone and no grocery store had food. No trucks could come here because there was no gas/diesel here to refuel for many miles around. There was enough fuel to run water utility generators for over a week, maybe two, then water would stop and water could/would get contaminated before then as pressure dropped.
There is not unlimited fuel for cops where they keep fuel and I don't know that they have a generator to keep getting it out. Once that is gone, they don't move.
Sometimes, generators don't work: Our large hospital for this area is in my town. When power went out, the generator to keep the hospital running DIDN'T WORK. The only lights were from a small generator for the emergency room. All critical patients had to be driven to San Antonio, a 5 hr. trip. No operations could be done here. All patients still in the hospital, now minus the critical ones, were in hot, dark rooms.
I think people don't realize how fast a place deteriorates without power. What was the job of cops during the days there was no power? They tooled around shopping centers to deter looting. They weren't coming to my house for anything - I was on my own.
Let's say you had a burglar/break in or you broke you leg, and you dialed 911. Your phone didn't work unless you had an old type direct line phone plugged directly in the wall. Your cell phone didn't work, either.
Yes, my power was off but my phone worked, talked to my son in England, had working TV, a radio that worked and picked up two TV channels, and light for as long as I needed it and food to heat or cook, ways to do that, running fans to stay cool, and all that would last a very, very, long time.
My point is, cop types are not going to get around to you.
If they want food they will go to distribution warehouses, and you have to create your own world when the outside world collapses.