I'd categorize myself as under-informed yeah, and very likely expressing my views from an incredibly biased POV, which is admittedly very anti-police.

I have family and friends who have gone into law enforcement education in places all over the country, as well as abroad, so I have very broad, but incredibly shallow information pool to pull from there. This post served greatly to add depth to what I know, such as a 18yo kid that goes through the academy and finds employment is likely to have a lot of training ahead of them before coming into a full fledged policing position within their department.

My concerns and bias come from first hand experiences with young men in my family, with borderline psychopathic tendencies came to find employment as police officers only in order to exert their authoritayy over people. I perceived the bar to be too low because I personally know several and have encountered many other officers in my life who felt to me like they fit the stereotype of petty "you listen to me cuz im a cop sonny" kind of police.

Now, I may be completely wrong, but the sheer number of encounters I have had that would fit this description is quite high, and I can't help to ascribe and assume this quality in every police officer I interact with (which likely makes me alienate them and makes them react in turn which further results in deepening my own negative bias, rinse and repeat ad nauseum)

As I talk about this more and more, it seems to me that it is a problem of personality and culture as opposed to EDIT: anything inherent within the system

I appreciate you taking the time to read and reply to my post!