and the starting salary for an NYPD officer is like $20k a year,
I'm not defending the perps, but all this REALLY started when people started getting tired of the blue line, and the police not getting rid of the obvious bad apples. Nobody is going to respect any organization that is supposed to uphold the law, but doesn't look in the mirror first.
Of course, disrespectful rhetoric from the politicians that are supposed to support them doesn't help. But they'd get a lot more sympathy if they'd make sure their own houses are clean.
Show me this overwhelming evidence of “bad apples” in law enforcement. I know there are a few bad ones here and there, but to suggest it’s to such a scale that it feeds the beast of anti-police culture is ridiculous.