This is the only thing you've said that I even remotely agree with.
You see plenty of times guys that get run out of job after job or can't seem to find a way to earn a living enter the police force....not that all LEO's are that way, but I know quite a few guys that couldn't land anywhere else head to the local police department. And I do think that sometimes lends itself to cops with a chip on their shoulder after being passed over and kicked around by everyone and every job they've had, and once they get in a position of power, that can lead to some cocky SOBs....
BUT, that is nowhere near the majority of cops, and I know plenty that aren't like that...and plenty that are educated and have basic common sense and decency that stay on the street.
well everything i wrote in the post you quoted sounds pretty sensible to me. cops don't arrest people for giving blowjobs, but that is illegal...why can't the stop making arrests for other non-violent crimes that lack direct moral implications? and why does the legislature task them with impossible things like trying to stop people from giving head in the first place? repeal the stupid laws and cops won't need to do stupid things to try and enforce them.
carrying tire irons and car jacks is just common sense, and will do a lot to make the words on the side of the squad car ring less hollow (though until people come to see cops in a different light the only practical way to do this is for cops who work in pairs). that alone would change a lot of attitudes and generate a lot of goodwill, and it's easy and inexpensive to do.
as far as lying, it's really one of the basic elements of their jobs, and they become masters of it. sure it helps them enforce the law better, but it's disgusting to hear the hollow threats and the pseudo "let's be friends" or "i've got your best interests in mind, you can tell me, don't worry." When they do that to catch people who legitimately pose a danger to others or who are considered by the vast majority of the population to be doing something immoral, that's one thing, but usually they do it to catch drug offenders and underage drinking and other pretty benign offenses that again really don't require protecting the general population, rehabilitating the offender, or punishing the individual--which are the only three reasons to lock someone up, and the rehab part is obviously a joke in our criminal justice system. in some forward thinking places in europe, rehabilitation can actually be accomplished. in our country it usually has the opposite effect when someone is locked up, which is one of the reasons arresting people usually does more harm than good.
mediating problems rather than thinking the way to solve everything is with citations and handcuffs and violence is also just common sense. we lock up more people as a % and as an absolute figure than either china or russia, two historically authoritarian communist states...think about that. and china has 1.7B people. when you arrest people you remove their potential to be economically productive, sometimes for their entire lives. it doesn't make sense to do that unless the person is doing something dangerous to others or widely accepted to be immoral.
also, standing in the way of the truth is bullshit. so like when a cop says he saw me with my seatbelt off when he didn't, or when two different officers from two different agencies decline to help someone obtain a video tape that will exonerate them because they don't want to interfere with the charging officers attempt to impeach someone's character, or when the arresting officer is shown proof through the window that the charges literally cannot be true and that officer says "you know i really don't necessarily want to arrest you, but this piece of paper says i have to.." (as he's realizing he's playing an active role in the miscarrage of justice) that sort of stuff wins you no friends. the degree of confirmation bias exhibited by a typical human is pretty extreme when not educated to guard against it. in policing this can have fairly disastrous consequences.
as far as breaking the law either literally or the spirit of it to catch other people breaking the law...it just makes them hypocritical, and not many people like hypocrites.
lastly, if the jails weren't full of minorities and poor people and mentally ill people, it would be easier to believe that the law is being applied evenly and fairly and, well, justly.
i hope you and others realize that almost all the negative consequences associated with illicit drug use are actually products of our societies attitudes and policies towards said substances and are not germane to the actual substance itself. also, consider that if you exercise your rights as enumerated in the constitution, LEOs typically view that as the subject is being uncooperative and is often the starting point of a deteriorating exchange, when the constitution is ostensibly what they are trying to uphold, it seems ironic to say the least.
i want to know how old you are, your occupation, and what your degree is in if you don't mind. i dont know why you can't get on board with the rest of this stuff. maybe it's simply because you're predisposed to disagree with me.
