>The police are the foot soldiers of the ruling class. While they will certainly side with the "rulers" over anyone else when there is a conflict on the day to

>The police are the foot soldiers of the ruling class. While they will certainly side with the "rulers" over anyone else when there is a conflict on the day to day the are also the foot soldiers of you the hypothetical average HNer reading this comment. The people with real power DGAF about the sort of petty "annoyance or minor risk to the public" behavior that the police spend the bulk of their time enforcing. You think Musk is worried about fentanyl in his weed? You think Gates cares if you are drunk and disorderly alcohol in public? You think the Kochs give a crap about some kid doing a burnout at a stop light? You think Murdoch cares whether some restaurant is staying open in defiance of a health department? Of course not. They're above that kind of stuff. Ditto for any list of powerful politicians you feel like coming up with. When the police initiate an interaction they are almost always doing it to enforcing the laws that you the average "well enough paid to give a crap about issues not related to your economic survival in the short/medium term" American want them to enforce (revenue policing notwithstanding).