I have said it before, but it's important enough to say again. Cops are cowards.
This isn't just my opinion- there is plenty of evidence.
"Officer safety" being a giant neon sign, flashing in our faces every time one of those anointed cowards must face one of us, declaring in plain language just exactly how cowardly they all truly are.
But there are other clear signs, even if they all have "officer safety", physical or financial, at their root:
Hiding behind their gang anytime their twitchy trigger fingers get one of them in a bit of hot water. Or when they cause a car accident.
Holding lots of innocent people at gun point, and viciously assaulting them under the pretext of finding a bad guy.
Demanding that everyone around them be unarmed.
The armored vehicles, face-hiding SWAT gear, use of weapons prohibited to you and me, protection of personal information and privacy of cops whose violations make the news... it all adds up to one thing. Cowardice.
And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Almost every action a cop takes, when interacting with non-cops, is motivated by cowardice.
This will be a self-fulfilling fear.
The more cowardly cops become (as hard as it is to believe, they probably can become more cowardly) the more real reason they will have to fear you and me.
The more innocent people who are murdered in the course of enforcing counterfeit "laws", the more people who are raped or beaten during a "routine traffic stop", the more people who are held at gun point because someone else in the area shot one of those LEOs- the more people will begin to hate cops.
There is only so much abuse peaceable people will tolerate. You and I are not the problem here. Unless you, too, are a coward and support the cowardly badge thugs. The realists who see cops for what they really are will probably never be a majority- too many copsuckers out there. But it won't take a majority. And then the cops can point to the incidents as justification- claim their cowardice isn't cowardice, but prudence.
Added: And don't forget the reasons I don't like cops, and roll my eyes at those who do.
Also: Mor on cops
.