The police execute public policy. I've seen a friend arrested for trying to simply delivery a letter to their representative calmly (amid a protest, but a calm one). Police can sometimes be individually bad, but often they are bad because they are part of a system that makes it so. If you are a "good" cop, you need to protect the bad cops or you get your ass handed to you and your career prospects cut. If you are a "good" cop and you are forced to kick people out of homes for being poor, lock up some dude forever for stealing a candy bar because of a three strikes law, or some such you're part of a system that values property and the safety of the well off over human dignity.
We do need some kind of forces for dealing with the occasional insane situation, but those happen rarely and public policy can be tailored to prevent many problems instead of being merely reactive and punitive. For example, poverty and lack of options cause social conflict, what if we did something about that instead of punishing people?
We do need some kind of forces for dealing with the occasional insane situation, but those happen rarely and public policy can be tailored to prevent many problems instead of being merely reactive and punitive. For example, poverty and lack of options cause social conflict, what if we did something about that instead of punishing people?