One thing I'll say about policing: I think the general standards are dropping as social inequality deepens.
In a way it disturbs me that I don't know any police and I barely know anyone who does, or who would ever want to be in the police. I've heard from my sister that even the standards of detective work are scarily low (people she knows interact regularly with the cops).
The men and women who are on the beat tend to be low-functioning, aggressive and resentful, caught up in a culture that's not only riddled with prejudice, but with pessimism and a dislike of their own circumstances.
The state has a monopoly on violence and it's selling a cut rate product.
