“But you have to agree that cops do refer to the public as “morons, idiots and criminals.”
I don’t “have to agree” to that. I personally know a few of my local LEO’s and I’ve never heard them refer to normal, law-abiding civilians in that way.
“It’s only fair, after all, that’s how some in the public refer to the police!”
Well frankly some cops have earned it.
But of course they refer to morons, idiots and criminals as morons, idiots and criminals.
Anyway, I don't have an issue with the label, "civilian." There has to be some shorthand to distinguish the enforced from the enforcer.