I respect local/town Police more than anyone. I was in a car accident two months ago, and the police who (very quickly) responded to the scene couldn't have been any nicer. Took the required info, but then stayed at the scene to joke a bit, calm me down (my nerves were off the chart), get an ambulance there to check me for any injuries. They even called a tow-truck service for me to come tow my car, since I had no cellphone, and one of the officers stayed with me until the tow truck came. I admit, I used to think like the man who responded to your post- didn't trust the police, thought they were everything he said. And undoubtedly, a very small minority may be so. But my views changed on that day, with how those Officers treated me.
My wife was on a business trip in Washington over the winter. She got into a really nasty accident on Mt.Ranier during an ice storm and was crushed into her car by two tractor trailers. They cut her out. The cop drove along with my wife to the hospital and sat with her until she got in touch with her family and answered all our concerns and worries. He gave us his work and home phone number. All his help was beyond his official responsibilities and the state of Washington needs to clone that guy. I wrote them a letter commending him. I hope it didn't get him in trouble? I remember the letter that a female mail carrier was the subject of, commending her work as a local carrier. The follow-up to the atta-boy letter was to quantify this woman in the bureuacracy. She was late fired from the postal service because her stride did not measure the minimum distance called for under mail carrier rules. They spent a month tailing her with a tape measure. This was under the Clinton Administration. You know, the one put in office by the female vote?????
In the future, if I'm going to commend a cop, I'm going to ask if it's OK before I write the letter. The 80% might eat him alive.