The "police will do what's right" viewpoint is far from the way I view cops. Honorable men and women who are cops will do right. Cowards and weirdos who are cops will do wrong, and in my opinion, are worse than criminals.
>>Cops are men and women just like you and me...<<
Physically, yes. However, as you point out at the end of the sentence, “..but they’ve got weird jobs.”
Our occupation affects how we see the world and other people, and how we see our role in the world. It is one of the downsides of being a cop.
The truth is: a city cop, a street cop, a road cop, puts his life on the line and is at risk of being shot, nice guy or schmuck.
That's not exactly as true as it may seem. Job fatality stats indicate that it is significantly more dangerous to be a logger, farmer, rancher, pilot, fisherman, or even a garbageman. As far as getting shot goes, it's much more likely to happen to a convenience store clerk than a cop. In a typical year it is also generally the case that self-inflicted and traffic fatality cop deaths exceed those who die in the line of fire.
I don't note this to diminish the sacrifice of those who die at the hands of a bad guy, but the portrayal of cops as if they are inherently some sort of self-sacrificing altruistic class of heroes who live with the sword of Damocles constantly upon their heads is pure mythology. It's also a rather insidious mythology as it breeds a mentality that places officer safety above all else - even to the point that they are willing to (and frequently do) kill another human being to avoid even the most obscure, minor, and far-fetched perceived "threats" to their own person.
I know cops deal with a seedy side of humanity. But I am tired of hearing how dangerous their job is. Being a police officer doesn’t even make the top 15 most dangerous jobs in America.
Fishers and related fishing workers is number one btw with 111.8 fatalities per 100K workers.