Originally Posted by
Odd_Nonposter
From what I've seen (which ain't much), police "quality" is indirectly proportional to the population of their jurisdiction. The handful of cops in a small town or rural county are generally better people than those in a rather large city.
In smaller towns, everybody knows the local cop, his family, and all of his friends. Likewise, the local cop in a small town knows many of the people in his jurisdiction on a personal level. So if a cop abused his power in a small town, he would rub a bunch of people the wrong way. Since he doesn't want to earn a bad rap in what is likely to be his hometown, he is a lot more cautious with the way he wields his power.
In my county, we only have 2 policemen who aren't a part of the state highway patrol, and one of them is usually off-duty. One of my neighbors had a little weed in his backyard that wasn't really hurting anything, and the sheriff said, "don't let the stateys [state highway patrol] catch you with that," like he really didn't care at all.
But the police in a large city are more "faceless" in that they don't have as many personal connections compared to the total population. Since they have a greater degree of anonymity, they can get away with abusing their power.