Lesson I: In every group of persons who carry weapons – guns, clubs, mace, tear gas, bombs, tasers, chemicals, armored vehicles, knives – there will be some who use these weapons on persons they dislike because of race, ethnicity, religion, etc. This includes every police department in existence.
Anyone who believes police are all dedicated civic heroes who act only to preserve the safety of others, or who are all unlawful brutes, is living in cloud cuckoo land. Police personnel always encompass both, often residing in the same physical body.
(The police officer portrayed by actor Matt Dillon in the 2004 film Crash embodies this universal truth: On one day he sexually molests a black woman under his control; on another day he risks his life to rescue a person from a burning car.)