I'll have to agree about the notion that some cops are good and some are bad, it just depends on where you are. I have to say that at least everyone on this post isn't stereotyping cops as all being bad and are looking at individual incidents. I hate when someone learns I'm a cop and then looks at me like I've got the plague or something.
The main reason you have such a wide variation in quality of officers is that law enforcement is not considered a "profession" in society. Most agencies may require some kind of higher education, but most require a minimum of a police academy and nothing else. I love my job and I could do anything I wanted for a living. It would be very easy for me to go back to college and get my Masters degree, but I am satisfied with what I do. I work at an agency with close to 100 deputies and I am only 1 of 4 with a 4 year degree. When people start to pay officers what they are worth, they will have better candidates to choose from. BTW, I have a really cool tape of me chasing(and catching) an 86 Mustang GT at 130 mph for 11 miles. It was scary and I'll never do that again.
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