The seemingly disinterested government employee is a problem not unique to officers in D.C., or even police officers in general, they just tend to stand out when they aren't doing anything. (To wit, I was nearly shot in New Orleans because the officer 100 yards away didn't see the drunk idiot on his bike pull a gun on a drunk pedestrian with his dog. The officer had to be tapped on the shoulder and have the situation pointed out to him.) No, something about knowing you've got nearly total job security tends to leave employees uninspired to work. Surprise! I know when I worked for an unnamed governmental agency two hour lunch breaks, Spanish lessons at the nearby community college breaks, showing a house because someone's other job was being a real estate agent breaks, working from home from the hair salon breaks, and hour long phone calls with the spouse breaks were all on par for the course of a typical day. I have devoted hours to recalling the massive amount of time that was spent doing anything but work on the part of every person employed by that agency. We had an on the clock costume party at halloween. True story. So yeah, if you ever hear someone talking about working for a government agency, or even worse, complaining about working for a government agency, slap them in the face! I promise you, they spend more time coming up with creative ways to not work, than they spend actually working.

P.S.
Postal workers are the most shirkinest of the bunch.