but it's one thing to be upset and another to act like they have no idea why this would happen and blame everyone else for their deservedly shit reputation.
But this is ultimately the issue. If you look at the actual crime statistics, the vast vast vast majority of police encounters are constructive. There's an extremely small number of cases in a country of 350 million people that get broadcast every single time and it's created this illusion that there's a bigger problem than there actually is. If you look at the number of people killed by police that weren't themselves either holding a gun or actively fighting back, it's a few hundred people a year. Not great, but again in a country of 350 million you're talking essentially a zero percent chance of being shot.
Now explain to me how that zero becomes a "deservedly shit reputation".
I'm not saying there are no precincts that need reforming, and there is definitely a problem with police in those four hundred or so cases not being put through proper due process, but the idea that any arbitrary police officer in any arbitrary District should expect to be treated like shit based on a small number of cases is insane. The numbers just aren't there. It's an illusion.
This. The problem isn't that police are gunning down innocent people en masse; it's that in the very rare occasions where a bad (or just questionable) shoot takes place, especially if the person is black, it's front-page news for weeks on end. ---