Hi, Enigma. You mentioned that you would "show me where to stick it" in the above post, and stated that not obeying police officers is a "big wrong move". There was also the implication that police officers have a right to detain people who have not broken any laws. That's the kind of attitude I'm talking about, the attitude of a thug - a person who desires to dominate people and is willing to inflict abuse to support that desire.
The problem of police abuse is acknowledged as being widespread. To begin with, there is the "blue code of silence", a principle whereby police brutality and (to a lesser extent) police corruption should be covered up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Code_of_Silence
Indeed, when people complain against it, the police cover it up. Only 19 of 10,000 complaints against the police resulted in meaningful consequences for the perpetrators.
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=6125
It could be argued that the police do not act according to the law, but merely under the color of law.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_of_law
This is what I refer to when talking about the community policing itself:
http://libcom.org/library/popular-justice-community-policing-guerrero-mexico-26032009
It works better than a regular police force as it is less prone to corruption; the community has more of an interest in supporting itself than the police has to support it. The most effective thing about it is that police positions are assigned via elections and are rotated every few years, so that police officers who harm the community cannot easily rely on the ties they built with other police officers to escape justice. Moreover, a community police force encourages cooperation among people, unlike a standard police force that encourages dependency on external institutions.
Here are some examples of police misconduct caught on camera; numerous others are available on youtube.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mvIWFXbHNo"]YouTube - Police Brutality: Cop Kills Dog, Tries To Buy Owner's Silence![/ame]
(the department lies to and attempts to bribe a woman after a police officer shot her dog)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFUpa0OwlyU&playnext=1&list=PL033D9401E9127CC4"]YouTube - police brutality - go skateboarding day: cop vs skaters[/ame]
(police officers attack a person without cause, as well as those who peacefully intervene in an attempt to rescue him; note the comments from one of them: "keep your hands on your back or I'll spray you"; "when you resist, that's what happens". Only a thug would act that way.)
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgfuBgWVsV8&playnext=1&list=PL8EB371D5D1485FF8[/ame]
(police officers beat someone up and charge him with assault)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HECMVdl-9SQ&NR=1"]YouTube - Video of police assault on Ian Tomlinson, who died at the London G20 protest[/ame]
(police officers beat up a bystander at the London protests as he is walking home; he later dies of the injury, but none of the officers are imprisoned or sacked)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZW0gGKKYMg"]YouTube - Bad Cop caught on tape![/ame]
(police officer verbally abuses and threatens children)
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZDrZDEqeKk[/ame]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King
(police beat up Rodney King, sparking the 1992 LA riots)
Also, examples of police behaving abusively against protesters:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs-BlQRT634&playnext=1&list=PL033D9401E9127CC4"]YouTube - To Protect & Serve: UC Santa Cruz Police Brutality[/ame]
(riot police attack a camp of protesters, torture most people and even sexually abuse one of the protesters by rubbing their penis against his mouth. I have absolutely no idea how anyone could tolerate, let alone defend such people. I certainly hope the protesters made efforts to bring them to justice, though I could not find information on actions.)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t244-zEENSs"]YouTube - Riot police attack peaceful protesters at G20 Climate Camp[/ame]
(police at the G20 protests attack innocents)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G63FEamhpA0&feature=related"]YouTube - Miami Police Shot Protester, then laugh about it.[/ame]
(police shoot a woman with rubber bullets, then laugh about it afterwards while talking to each other in a large group; no person without a thuggish mindset would do this)
Indeed, it is very common for the police to exhibit brutality at large protests.
Based on such videos, it is easy to liken police forces to occupying armies - not a part of the community they exist in, but a separate entity that attempts to dominate that community.
Police corruption, and retaliation against genuinely good police whistleblowers:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3dGWoScAnw"]YouTube - City Room: Watching 'Serpico' With Serpico[/ame]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Serpico
(Colleagues allowed Frank Serpico to be shot during a drug bust and did not assist him afterwards)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pJtK2N2peI&feature=fvst"]YouTube - Outrage over SA police corruption[/ame]
(South African Police - an academic suggests 10% of the police force may be committing crimes)
Finally, some popular press and wikipedia articles:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/17/smiley-culture-stabbed-heart-postmortem
(the police stab an innocent man to death while visiting his house for questioning)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7083596.ece
(police kill innocents, their department helps cover it up until a federal enquiry reveals their evil actions)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rampart_scandal
(the CRASH rampart scandal, showing that the entire CRASH department of LAPD colluded with the Bloods, an LA gang)
The stories I keep reading suggest that the departments themselves support these thugs, as opposed to exposing them. Note how it is typical for the police to go to great lengths to cover up their colleagues' wrongdoing, and how few of the perpetrators are brought to justice. Furthermore, it's not just these stories. I have seen homeless people and minorities being harrassed by police officers, simply because these officers can get away with it.