To your question IDP, I think this is more of a recent phenomenon. Sure, there's always been dirty cops, but when I was a kid the police still had the "Officer Friendly" reputation with most of the public, myself included, and I think it was warranted. I think it really began to change in the early 90s when the "war on drugs" had escalated to the point that local police were becoming increasingly militarized. And look where we are now.
Add to this the fact that police departments are on record as saying they avoid candidates with an IQ that is too high. They say it's because such people become easily bored, and I say BS. It's because they are cultivating a certain type, i.e. one with enough mental acumen to perform the job technically but incurious enough to just follow whatever order they're given. Police training materials have also been exposed where they teach them to be imperious toward citizens, in order to establish who's boss.
Every tyrannical regime requires an army of thug enforcers.
