I am originally from Connecticut. I know its culture of patriotism. Baiting by police is inappropriate but violence is almost guaranteed if police and politicians want a fight, all of New England will be inflamed.
I encourage police and politicians to find bi-partisan solutions respectful of American citizenship and the Constitution itself.....and do it soon.
I blame the TV programming that portrays policing as ‘The Gunfight at the OK Coral’...young people are VERY impressionible.... TV plays too much of a role.
In the past, police were the best of the best from outside the force and everywhere.
My experience is that the officers you describe above are the exception and not the rule. I know a fair number of Sheriff's deputies and State Troopers. I took my CCW training from an individual who is retired Military (Marine) and retired IL State Trooper.
We discussed in great length during our CCW training how to interact with any law enforcement officer should we get pulled over (traffic violation) or be out in public and getting questioned while conceal/carrying.
In summary, we were instructed to never use the word GUN during these situations. Many beat officers are still young in their careers, and may over-react to the word. Instead, we were told to inform the officer that we were "licensed to carry, and were doing so." At that point we were instructed to ask the officer how he would like to handle the situation so that he would feel safe.
Now, I've had my share of getting pulled over for driving like an idiot in my younger days BUT since I treated each officer with courtesy and respect (never EVER treat an officer like they're stupid - best way to get taken in) I drove away without a ticket in all but one case.
If you use a little common sense, courtesy and respect while CCW'ing I'd be willing to bet that you'd walk away from any situation with an LEO with your weapon.
In fact, just as we citizens are getting training on how to conceal/carry correctly here in Illinois, the Illinois State Police are going around the state briefing local police departments on the new CCW law here in Illinois and how to have a successful interaction with those of us who conceal/carry.
I'm sure Illinois will have our share of idiot police officers who over-react, but everything I'm seeing and hearing is that there's a very large effort going on here to make sure LEO's don't over-react when they come across one of us conceal/carrying. I think the "bad cops" are the exceptions and not the rule, and how you interact with them (courtesy, respect, intelligence) makes all the difference.
I have to say my one gun owner interaction with a police officer here in Knoxville, TN was quite unlike what you describe and, indeed, did the officer a lot of credit. It was a situation where I was in the wrong because he stopped me for speeding, not giving a turn signal, and not having proof of current insurance on my person. Because I had a loaded firearm in my glove compartment, and also a valid carry permit, I informed him of the presence of the weapon and stated I had a valid permit. At that moment the whole interaction became quire friendly. He said he also had a permit and carried when off duty, reduced the speeding citation to a local ordinance matter that wouldn’t impact my insurance rates, eliminated the part about failing to signal for a lane change, and only required me to submit proof of current insurance to avoid any charges on that account. All of this as because I was polite to him, was carrying, and informed him of the presence of the weapon and my permit.