With 18,000 agencies in the US only the larger, urban agencies wil be able to get all the hardware. I think most average towns are just getting by. Also how does the fact f women and minorities in the forces play out? I agree, with a growing population often comes a growing crime rate. The rate has been going down but it is not because people are behaving better. I do agree this has really gotten out of hand with the police who feel they are above the law and have the mentality, ends justifies the means has created a monster.

I think that in general the police are professional, polite and effective, at least that’s been my experience.

I hear though that in many places there is an out-of-Control rogue element.

There’s also the issue of police unions that sometimes encourage bad behavior and that protect rogue cops.

[nationalreview.com]

This mentality is so entrenched in the way our police view themselves that it's hard to imagine a way to disassemble that system. They'll fight hard to keep that power in place now that they have it.