Based on your post, it seems as though things in _your_ particular area are declining. If you live in San Francisco or New York, well, those places are the stin

Based on your post, it seems as though things in _your_ particular area are declining. If you live in San Francisco or New York, well, those places are the stinky rotten armpits of the United States (assuming you live here, of course). Police officers by and large aren't a problem. Hundreds of thousands of police interactions occur on a daily basis that go just fine. Police stories are almost always the case of an individual shithead that would've been horrible regardless of their job, and more uncommonly local systemic problems, such as the police department and/or the justice system. The media loves its drama, too.