The saddest part is not that the bad cops have a free run. It's that nobody even thinks about it until it happens to them. Any measure designed to restrict this abuse would fail popular vote, because cops are the good guys. Any politician wishing to rein in the police unions would commit political suicide. There are millions of guys like the OP, and none of them would think to vote against promotion of something like POBAR - until POBAR-protected police stomps on their hands. Too late then.