They were sheep when they followed orders blindly and they were sheep when they followed bad apples onto the bench.

Nobody needs sheep in positions of power. Sheep are easy to come by, easy to replace.

They should aim for hiring competence. They often do the work of two without even breaking a sweat. One smart cop can replace four bad apples. Easily.

This is the usual problem: Someone invested on the wrong end and because it doesn't worked the first time they invest even more. Its a spiral.

If they would invest into better training and education instead, have them at least 2-3 years trained before allowed on the streets, they would need less gear and less people to do the same job, cause they probably do it 10 times better.

The old way of sending people to jail for ridiculous long sentences (costs money) and hiring tons of wannabe policemen (wastes money), and showering them in military gear (even more money), is not working out... Some problems can't be fixed with just doing more of the same. It is all about how money is invested. Nobody needs an army of sheep.