I've had a few encounters with cops and a couple of my mates are actually cops too. Some of them are complete and utter dickheads who abuse their power, although the overwhelming majority (in my experience) are really decent guys. My problem is this: If there was a poll taken of, say, 1,000 teachers and one of them fucked their students; their would be an outcry (rightly so) demanding an explanation as to how this wierdo got past the screening process and was allowed to teach kids. I think it should be the same with cops - they are employed to enforce the law, the screening process for applicants should be pretty fucking thorough to ensure that a bare minimum of these complete dickholes are allowed to police our streets. I understand that if I were a cop and I, say, were flashed by a speed camera, or got lifted for punching out some drunken wanker, I'd expect my cop mates to get me out of the shit. It's human nature to use this shit to your advantage. That said, I think the handful of examples you hear about officers flat out abusing their power are not dealt with severely enough and that a much bigger deal needs to be made of it before it snowballs. xx