No one is stating cops do not make mistakes.
They do, and they do show bias.
It really is a crappy job, babysitting criminals. I would be jaded and biased.
All the more reason to avoid them, and to listen to them very carefully, because you may only get one chance.
Or zero chances. Years ago, a group of five or six police officers once pushed their way into my home after having been told they could not, shoved my boyfriend into a room that they blocked so he couldn't assist, and proceeded to beat the living crap out of two of my female friends, then dragged them out of my home and threw them in jail overnight. They were never charged with anything or given a reason for their beating and arrest. Which, I remind you, happened
inside my home. They were afraid to report the officers involved because they didn't want to be targeted for further assaults and harassment, which was generally understood to be the consequence of filing reports against the police in my community.
As far as I know, their reason for invading my home and assaulting my friends is that my friends were drunk and noisy and one of them had smashed a beer bottle in the street on her way to my house. But they were IN my house and waiting for a taxi home when the police made their move. And their move was brutal violence, smashing my friend's head on the floor repeatedly, twisting her wrist so badly so she couldn't open doors for a week afterward. Both my friends were black and blue.
I also witnessed police in this city dragging a homeless man along the street by his arms. His pants had slipped off and his bare *** was dragging along a filthy city sidewalk. I saw it from a bus, and admittedly didn't see the reason for the arrest, but the police were unquestionably using excessive force. The guy was skin and bones, and completely limp.
I also have a friend who was beaten by police while in custody, once again with no charges being filed. In this case, the officers came to prepared to beat him up with a phone book, which I guess they somehow used to spread the impact of their blows and avoid leaving marks, subverting the possibility that he might later file a complaint backed by photographic evidence.
I also used to live in an art gallery / concert venue where we threw private parties, trading beer for "tips" because we were not licensed. We were not breaking any laws, but the police entered one night and proceeded to smash a number of art pieces to bits with their batons.
If I am skeptical of your conviction that police in general always act reasonably and only rarely use excessive force or attack out of rage rather than self-defense, it's because I've personally had these experiences.
I have also known people who were detained or ticketed by police with no violence employed, and of course that reflects the majority of encounters with police.
What I've NEVER witnessed or heard of in all my years is someone I know physically attacking a police officer.
"I want a systemic analysis of cop on civilian violence, not cherry picking isolated incidents, and I want you to start with this one isolated incident!"
