i look at it like this.
Cops, real, true, honestly hardworking cops, deserve more respect than we can give. Kinda like Firemen.
The problem is, Cops don't do the right things to earn that respect. If you are going to be a fireman, you are a fireman all the time. If you are going to be a nurse, you are a nurse all of the time. If you're a nurse and you have too much to drink and get a ticket for "drunk in public," you can have your license taken away. So these people have to live "properly" all of the time, regardless of the stress. My coworkers father is a firefighter, and he was telling us about his buddy that was let go because of a DUI. And something is telling me that firefighting is alittle on the stressful side. Teachers have rules that dictate everythign they do. Even in the middle of summer vacation, they can get in trouble just for having one of their students in their car, drunk or not. Teaching is stressful.
So you have all of these jobs that "normal people choose to do that dictate what they can and can't do. But the moment one of these "normal" people becomes a cop, everything they do is excusable because they have stressful jobs and they are just "normal" people, and "normal" people make mistakes, so its ok.
No, normal people make mistakes and they have to deal with it, they can't just write it off because their job is stressful. Cops shouldn't be allowed to do so either. I don't care how stressful it is giving that kid in the civic with a fart cannon a ticket, you still have to act professional, all of the time. Until then, they are still gonna be the pigs that everyone knows they are....