i need to be clear, though. i've made thousands of youtube, facebook and other media posts. all over the place. this is the first time i've typed the words "fuck the police". i know that they're mostly union stiffs, and they're mostly doing their job.
the problem is that their job requires that they go through training that teaches them to treat people differently based on their ethnic background - and that what their job is is to protect the property of the wealthy from the masses, through whatever means possible.
getting mad and breaking stuff doesn't solve anything. it just gives them an excuse to put you in a cage and enslave you. nowadays, chances are you're getting a stint working for some big company like nike. yes, even in america. they're just laughing at you.
but, this logic is fuzzy. the police cannot be treated as an independent and identically distributed random variable. they are paid to oppress people. that is their job.
fwiw, i'll gladly bite on the anarchist question, but only if i'm poked. i've had this argument far too many times.
i don't entirely agree with the argument i'm about to present, but i do think there's some truth to it. i really think there has to be some kind of psychological damage worked into desiring to go to work every day, pick up a gun and tell people what to do. something went wrong there, in that person's childhood. it's the same basic mentality that leads to mass shootings, it's just manifested differently.
but, there was a film released about ten yeas ago called the corporation in which the thesis was presented that corporations fit the clinical definition of psychopathy. if my memory serves correctly - and i have some doubt, but i'm pretty sure - there were various academics in that film (one was chomsky...) that pointed out that the role one plays as a ceo is not necessarily going to be the same that the role one plays as private citizen.
so, you could have a ceo that, in his private life gives tons of money to greenpeace and volunteers with planting trees, but, in his public life, facilitates the production of massive levels of pollution. as an individual, this person may strongly disagree with the actions of the company. but, he is both bound by his job responsibilities - and in fact by law - to do whatever maximizes profit, regardless of consequence. and, if he were to quit, somebody else would do it.
i think that something similar can be applied to police officers. they may be nice people, in their private lives. they may join anti-racist marches. they may be members of the aclu. but, in their job requirements, they have no option but to apply the principles of racial profiling that they've been taught. and, if they quit they can be replaced.
what that means is that focusing on the individual police is obscuring the issue. the racism is systemic. it comes from the department. and, it comes from lawmakers, too. meaning it comes via mandate from the dwindling white majority.
but, recognizing that reality doesn't change what a police officer is. and, what that is is not something that should be rationalized or romanticized. it's a social function that is designed to implement violence along class and ethnic lines to maintain the status quo of extreme inequality.
useful reading:
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/17505/police_and_poor_people