I had friends on the force years ago. The old time cops were by and large very decent. They all told me that the force was going to hell and were anxious to retire. I'm not so dure of all the causes, but one of the changes that happened is that in the old days they were required to live in the city, but the Minnesota Supreme Court decided that wasn't constitutional. One of my police friends told me it was hard to have any faith in the force when the precinct commander only showed up for about 20 hours a week and put himself in for overtime every week. I think the big problem is lack of oversight. Once cops find out they can do anything they want some will abuse their power. Personally, I think that a lot of it comes from the mainstream media. All those cop shows, etc. We finally made it against the rules for cops to work as bar bouncers because of the millions we [aid out in lawsuits, but they still can work at restaurats and clubs. They get from fifty to seventy five bucks an hour as security so a lot of them sleep on duty and do nothing at work. Personally, I think it's an extortion racket. I know some very competent and experienced security people who work for a lot less. So you pay the cops off by hiring some security and nothing bad happens to your business. None of this will change until there is some real independent oversight from outside the department. Appointing a new chief every few years never solves anything. It's like basesball, where you fire the manager to please the fans when you lose, even though iy makes no difference.
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