I’ve repeated this anecdote several times on Free Republic, and it is always met with skepticism. I am merely relaying the claim of a person I believe to reliable and trustworthy, told to me in a manner that leads me to believe that it is true.
My cousin, who served as a member of the NYPD for twenty years, including stints in Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant, retiring as a Detective Lieutenant on the Manhattan DA’s homicide squad, claims that in 20 years on the force, he never drew his weapon once.
Back then if you heard of the police killing someone, you could rest assured that they deserved it, in other words, they did not have a choice.
Now, anytime one of them looks at you, and "I feel my life is in danger" your ass is gone.