But then I've only known a few, and you seem to have an omniscient pedestal with which to amplify your anecdotal tale to universal proportion.
Of course there are good cops. I was being way over the top and probably should not have posted that comment.
I base my expectations of police officers on working with them many years ago as an EMT.
I found the young officers who had crim degrees were usually pretty good and you could rely on them in a pinch.
The older veteran beat cops were another story. They would sometimes escalate situations intentionally to be able to administer a legal beat down on some 'perp' or maybe just some crazy homeless guy they didn't like. We would get the call after it went down and transport the unfortunate pile of human hamburger to the hospital for a few bandages before he went to the pokey. I also saw cops steal property and drugs from suspects and lie on police reports. If you have to ask why I kept my mouth shut about it, you really do have a fairy tale view of street work.
My favorite cop was a 6'5" black officer whose particular talent was clearing yards of vicious dogs so that we could gain entry to houses from which cardiac emergencies had been called in.
His technique involved fearless physical intimidation and the occasional boff on the nose of the obstreperous canine.
The State Troopers (this was in FL) were the worst. All they cared about was getting the wrecks cleared so they could get back to their radar traps.
A trooper arrested one of our EMTs once for not getting a woman out of a car quickly enough. The EMT extricated her correctly on a spine board, but the trooper wanted "his" highway cleared and arrested our guy for disobeying his order to yank the lady out of the car.
So, I have had a little experience, but I will apologize to any straight up cops out there for my previous comment.
