A VETERAN CHIEF: TOO MANY COPS THINK IT'S A WAR

In the wake of the violent abuse of police authority in New York City, one question stands out: How can this happen?

One answer is that the nature of police misconduct, if not the volume, has changed. In the past, brutality frequently took the form of a cop retaliating against someone trying to harm him. Often it went unnoted. Today there is frequently an element of police gangsterism. Small groups of police officers share a fermenting contempt for the people they encounter. Rogue cops band together and cover one another's crimes. When all this unravels in public, it seems as...

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