Are cops nothing more than well armed cowards?

[The Magistrate]

2. A Lot Of Current Training Seems To Inculcate That, Sir

Police work is not that dangerous, physically. An officer driving to work is at much greater risk of life and limb than when he or she makes a traffic stop.

The danger is the corrosion of the soul brought on by frequent contact with people at their worst, with people at their weakest, with people who are damaged beyond repair.

Police culture is rooted in white working class culture, which inculcates among other behaviors stoicism, repression of emotion, and self-medicating to relieve psychic pain.

Camaraderie is a potent intoxicant, and always contains an element of a collective identity, one different from others, who aren't one of us. Under a great collective stress, this can and does go toxic.

Sooner or later, an officer is going to take for an excuse to let off steam some trifle with a person who's not police. People are going to end up suffering who didn't really do anything, certainly nothing commensurate with what is done to them. Given the actual state of our culture and society, it is far more likely the victims will be persons of color. Nothing deters this, there is nothing to weigh in the balance against the moment's rough pleasure. There is generally reinforcement for it among comrades.

So it continues.