Do the police think that they are gods?

[DefenseLawyer]

54. A year or so an officer was killed in the line of duty in Indianapolis

He was a veteran beat cop. In my few dealings with him I found him to be a good guy. He conducted a routine traffic stop of an old man with schizophrenia and a gun and was killed. Of course the city mourned a senseless killing and it reminded us that being a cop is dangerous. But it really struck me that at his public memorial service the police department chaplain referred to the officer as a "fallen warrior". That's really the problem in a nutshell. He wasn't a warrior, he's not in a war. He didn't die in a war, he died trying to deal with an armed mentally ill person. Yet the police culture is to see themselves as warriors; As combatants instead of public servants; in a war with the community instead of a part of it. It's much easier to justify extreme violence and illegal tactics when you view your job in the context of waging a war instead of keeping the peace.