“Never back the blue. At best, police should be non-interested parties to our lives but they are never your friend.”
They don’t signal to you when, in their minds, and for no damn good reason, you’ve changed status—such that your every word, deed, lack of speech, or inaction, is now being used to fabricate a false indictment against you.
Every interaction between every one of them and every unsuspecting so-called “civilian” (as if they are at war—but, strangely, with us) should come with a new type of Miranda warning explaining in advance this unpleasant new modern reality.
Police vs Sheriff vs State Trooper is a dynamic most people do not recognize the diffrence between. 2 of the three have a very tight relationship with someone who is very accountable to the public. The Police on the otherhand accept they are not the most well liked but are the least accountable.
I know my Sheriff, the deputies live down the street, I know my governor, I know some department heads in state government.
I have no idea where the city police leadership came from unless they graduated from mytown high. Nobody in the local press dare cover them in any manner because reprisals of the rank and file PD reaction is scattershot. Police departments and sometimes fire departments (rarely, thankfully) loose the thread of why they get tax dollars to do what they do.
There is no other part of government that is ran by so many “city workers” with “city worker” thinking. At least the LA and NYC police are a big enough force their are real controls (quality assurance) on officer and leadership behavior.