24 year LEO here. Worked in a jail, patrol, detective, SWAT and supervisor slots. Here we go...
The social climate is a powder keg, and it's going to get worse.
When I read the comments of threads like this, all I can think is "That's not at all how it really is." Maybe that's what it's like in places I've never been, but I've never seen widespread misconduct and conspiracies that get passed around the net.
What frightens me about the whole thing is how police work has changed since I joined in 1991 and we still have all these problems. The Rodney King incident changed training and ideology in law enforcement. That was the day that the "old school" died. Compare actions of the riot police in Baltimore to the civil rights marches of the 1960's. I mean REALLY compare. Go watch the videos, or talk to someone who was there. U.S. police are more educated, better trained and less violent than any point in history, and it's not enough. Even though less than 1% of contacts result in as much as an unsubstantiated complaint, it's not enough for public opinion and it's damn sure not enough for humanity. I'm not sure what else there is to do about it.
There will never be an understanding of the use of deadly force versus less-lethal between police, media and the public, no matter the situation. A cop friend of mine killed a man with a knife, and even though the guy actually stabbed him (saved by his vest), there was public outrage because less-lethal wasn't used. Someone actually suggested the cop should have thrown a net over the guy. Before you reply with a video of a cop shooting a nun during prayer, understand that I'm not saying all shootings are justified. There will be bad shoots. When there is an overall increase in aggression in police contacts, from either side, there will be more shootings. Powder keg.
Many of the comments and questions I see indicate a lack of understanding. One of the questions asked why we don't use less lethal first, or have a rubber bullet in the pipe for the first round. I'm not going to get into it. If you truly care about the issue and want to understand, there are use of force videos all over the net, not just for police, that will get the point across.
Personally, it's frustrating. Maybe big agencies like Baltimore are just rotten to the core and I'm shielded in some sort of Mayberry. Yep, cover-ups and conspiracies happen, I'm sure, but I've been involved in dealing with screw-up cops and the mass is happy to see them go. As for the bully personality accusations (attributed to half of all cops by one Redditor's calculation), I disagree with the proportion. I had a conversation with a guy who said that, and after some discussion we reached a conclusion that if the majority of police are bullies (by his estimation), the five that he knew personally were cool, meaning that 100% of police he'd actually talked to, other than when he was being an idiot to the point that cops showed up, were regular folks. Again, it's what I've personally experienced.
I'm in a small city, so that's where my observation comes from. I'm sure tensions in the big cities are worse. I really appreciate this being one of the more civilized discussions on the matter. If anyone wants to shoot me down, please share it on CopBlock or the like, as I'm really done with negative stuff for the night.