Its the Us vs. Them mentality... a great number of cops these days truly believes they are in a war, they just call it a war on drugs, a war on crime. When infact its a war on the public... compounding this problem is the general level of fear your average cop carries while at work.
This is why we are seeing so many unarmed innocent's being shot these days.
You and I have gone around on the level of villainy that we each see in law enforcement. I have defended law enforcement, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t think there are ever any problems with it.
This is an instance where I believe there to be a real problem, a real stonewalling, and a very destructive overtone from law enforcement that refuses to fess up, take ownership, and restore the public faith in the department.
Good law enforcement officer hate situations like this, because the multiplier effect is astounding. This incident will be read about far and wide, and it will reinforce mindsets.
That does nobody any favors. Even the officers in that SB Sheriff’s department will suffer immeasurably due to this perception. (and I’m not trying to reference this as merely a perception - there was a real problem here IMO)