over protecting the rights of citizens. Cops are a lot like doctors in that they don't really police their own. History is littered with the names of good cops driven out of the force for fighting back against institutional corruption and "good cops" who silently allow their co-workers to rape, pillage and murder citizens.
"It's not me, it's the other guy" has allowed white America and white American culture to ignore the problems of institutional racism for far too long. If generalizations about "good cops" and "bad cops" and who gets lumped in with who bothers you, I would hope that in the same breath you would condemn the generalizations cops rely on to decide who is an active threat.
The problem with prejudice is often time it is subconscious. Many aren't even aware they are doing it.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/11/science-of-racism-prejudice
You see it with doctors too- many surveyed believe absolutely stupid falsehoods about blacks perpetuated by cultural myths that date back to the slave trade.
http://www.pnas.org/content/113/16/4296.abstract
The police aren't any better. These falsehoods about biology have an impact on how police officers act and react to what they deem as an active threat. If even med students and doctors think, falsely, that a black man or woman is less likely to react to pain, they may be more likely to use lethal force. You see it time and again with the portrayal of young brown children as unstoppable evil juggernauts that had to be brought down with lethal force.
Until police departments and officers universally condemn this behavior and make an effort to address the problem, the stigma caused by corrupt cops will continue to drag the whole badge along with it into the depths of the massive sh*t pile of racism.
= new reply since forum marked as read