I came from a small village in Michigan population around 700. We had a state police post a mile from my house. The village had 7 officers, 1 out of 7 was incompetent. The others took their oath seriously and did not overstep with their authority. I think I've mentioned in another post mr incompetent broke down my back door while i was 9 months pregnant only for me to point out he was at the wrong address. Had to go to the village council for reimbursement on my back door. Same officer took report from my daughter when she was assaulted. Knowing he was going to do nothing, i tracked down the girl who hit her and called him. He was the only one on duty, i said i found her, you gonna do anything? He was hemming and hawing. I said how about i call the chief and ask him. He came and talked with the girl. Nothing happened. I also had a talk with my 14 year old about smart aleck comments coming out of her mouth and how some will just hit you instead of walking away. She learned a great lesson that day about controlling her mouth.
We all knew we could depend on the other 6. Nobody trusted #7. Lazy and incompetent.
I think this is every town across America. It's every town I've lived in.
We only every had one shootout in that village. It changed 5 people's lives forever, 4 were officers trying their best to stop a man from killing his wife with a rifle. 2 were hit with long term physical consequences. One quit the force because he couldn't shoot the man but once shot they did everything they could to save him. I'm sure in our peaceful little village no one came to work that day expecting to kill a man we all knew. It really shook everyone up badly because this was a man we all interacted with and he snapped. No record, no history, just snapped. That's why I respect law officers... Until they prove they don't deserve that respect.