Nope, just a strong feeling given what I watched and my experience, along with the current general state of police mentality.QUOTE]
...current state of police mentality........ Hopefully you realize that the high percentage of the negatives you see, apply to a very low percentage of the actual Law Enforcement numbers. I can't remember the last time I seen a video of an officer arresting a drug dealer, pulling someone out of a burning vehicle/house, doing CPR, de-escalating a domestic, talking to the parents of child in the ER from a traffic accident. Nor will you; those aren't news worthy. Only the negative news is worth the effort, and from this negative news do people formulate their opinions. I still remember an old stats teacher and his favorite saying: These are the facts as best presented to support my case. yep it works both ways. I've also learned to watch how I express my opinions, when i don't have adequate information. Child birth looks painful, but I don't have first hand experience. I've seen grown men critically injured when a smaller female surpises them with a sharp object. I've watched as a woman who was abused by her husband (physically beaten), turn on the officer that was arresting her husband. I've seen what meth can do, but I have trouble relating to it as i've never experienced the sensations of addiction. I've seen how de-escalations can go both ways, without rhyme or reason.
I totally agree, and 99% of the police I know personally or professionally have been at least neutral, if not awesome. However, I don't think there's any supportable argument that things aren't worse than a few decades ago, with problem officers more prevalent. I believe a big part of it is hiring practices. They're specifically targeting types that are going to be inclined towards abuse (low IQ, high testosterone, order followers rather than creative thinkers or empaths, etc).
Again, I think it's those high visibility mega-abusers that create an overall tension that leads to so many of the minor abuses, which are mostly good cops pushed past the edge. That's why I'm for such harsh treatment of serious offenders. It has to be stopped, to protect good cops as much as the citizens. I'm not a fan of zero tolerance policies, but about as close as I'll ever get to supporting them is government agents (including law enforcement) trampling personal rights.