“In the Wild West, it was common to fight your own battles because you were afraid of the sheriff."

Based on the westerns I've seen, the real reason was not because you were afraid of the sheriff, but because you were afraid the sheriff couldn't or wouldn't do anything. You knew the sheriff was a coward, a weakling, an incompetent, and/or on the payroll of the bad guys.

Which, in fact, would make this a more accurate analogy for why private organizations today are tempted to bypass the authorities and take cyber-justice into their own hands.