Police work is a legitimate function of government. I respect the job that the 95% of cops do. But there are a few problems...
Many who sign up with the police department do so because of personality predilections. Meaning that many enjoy using their authority and some abuse it. I think that psychological studies have shown that often those who go into policing are high on the F-scale...
F-scale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
My local police here in rural Hawaii are good people. They are community members who attend our churches, sponsor athletic teams and leagues, their kids go to school in the community, etc. Police work here is apparently underpaid by national standards, but hey, they get to live in Hawaii with a steady job that has retirement. And not too many folks here have handguns...