...”Ever since 911, there has been a trend moving toward much harsher local police.”.....
Well the problem isn’t the police...the problem is our laws that won’t prosecute the guilty. So the natural result is more crimes on the street ..because they know the laws can be dodged.
Actually, the problem IS the police. Are you aware that the crime rate has actually been dropping quite a bit over the past ten years or so? The militarisation, SWATting for everything under the sun, no-knock warrantless raids on wrong addresses, dog-shooting, and the rest are not due to some sort of increased general lawlessness that is putting severe psychological strain on our poor, widdle powice fowces.