> Of course there are bad apples who are police officers - as well as bad apple doctors, pilots, lawyers, therapists and garbage men. <
That is a fair statement. But here’s the thing. Society can tolerate bad lawyers, bad therapists, and bad garbage men. Those folks can’t do all that much damage.
But we CANNOT tolerate bad doctors, bad pilots, or bad police officers. Those folks ruin lives. To some extent, bad doctors and bad pilots are weeded out. But bad cops usually aren’t weeded out. Even the fired ones just move from one department to another.
And I say all that with some regret. I understand how difficult policing must be. But by golly, I also understand how much damage an unchecked bad cop can do.