You can equate their trigger-happiness with the steroids coursing through the veins of these LEO thugs.
I see your point, mine is this, why take the steroids in the first place? Possibly because they know they are in the wrong profession and need an ‘edge’ to keep going on and on.
I’ve known several officers over time and in various locations around the country. The good ones have told me that ‘common sense’ is no longer common in the ranks. They have also told me that the bullies are becoming more and more prevalent and that they too are worried. Some of them are VERY worried.
Blame 9/11. After Bush II's expansion of "protection" (US Department of Homeland Security, TSA, the Patriot Act, weakening of FISA courts, etc.), the emotional response tilted the country in the direction of "protection trumps civil liberties". Law Enforcement began to take a blind eye as bullies began filling the ranks. These thugs wanted, and either through deliberate encouragement or passive negligence by superiors, took steroids so they could be bigger, stronger than "the enemy".
Unfortunately, the law of unintended consequences wins every time. We the innocent became "The Enemy": nuns and the disabled at airports, old men reaching for their canes, barking dogs, you name it.
Al Qaeda is laughing their butts off. They won.