I work in municipal government, and different departments have very different police. It really comes diem to leadership and accountability.
In my last city, the police department wasn't founded until around 2010. The city manager who hired all their leadership at the beginning was a black man who had seen bad policing in his day.
They started with the understanding that shit don't fly. They all wore body cams from the moment the department was founded. They get most of their hires fresh from the academies so they haven't been tainted. They focus on public safety and compliance instead of punishment (in 2023 they wrote 4 tickets between 20 officers). It's a great department.
My current city is different. They exist to chase poor people and minorities out of the city. When there was a major collapse in a road, I (the maps and permits guy) was out there flagging traffic myself because the police chief didn't see it (public safety) as their problem. They go to the"warrior cop" seminars and just meet every stereotye of the bad cop.
The rest of the city staff hates them for a million reasons, but primarily because they're useless. We could just use the county sheriff's office and highway patrol and achieve everything we need to, but instead over half our staff positions are wasted on police when we don't even have a public works department or city engineer.
