I used to see it your way @chuck2u32, viewing the corruption and abuses of power as statistically insignificant anomalies to an otherwise reasonably functioning system. I won't delve into @doitvoluntarily response to you (even though I think it has a lot of intellectual merit to it), I just want to offer up something you may not have experienced/seen before.

Obviously I have no idea what type of news information you consume, but a source I have been following (for a number of years now) is http://thefreethoughtproject.com/ . I'm not sure if they have aggregate statistics on their website (I know this is something they were attempting to put together at one point), however, they do provide very detailed/follow up reporting on aggregated police misconduct (nationwide!) on a daily basis which, after reading/following for several years is actually quite horrifying. Instances of abuse of power, cover-up, repeat offenses, department shifting (between states), etc. Every single day, thefreethoughtproject will have literally a handful of reports on police misconduct. Multiply this by 365 days and we are looking at a very large number of concerns.

I'm not trying to say that every cop in America is a morally reprehensible person, a bad actor or a crooked cop per se. What I am saying is that there are STRUCTURAL problems that merit lots of attention and action if so-called "free people" have any hope of even holding onto that silly moniker.