American vs British Police...

I am an American, but have visited England (and Europe) several times.

I notice a lot of threads lamenting the "evil *beep* American cops". I also hear about how British cops are so much better and all that...

My observations: Most cops (regardless of where they are from) are good people with good intentions. There are bad apples, but they are almost always in the minority.

However - when in Europe I didn't feel any safer than I would in any other city anywhere else. I also found myself with very little respect for the law. I felt I could do damn near anything I wanted and there just wasn't enough of a deterrent to make me rethink it. I admit I didn't grow up with that system, but I still felt like I could have run roughshod all over everything if I wanted.

In America, I don't feel any more threatened than I did anywhere else. But I did find myself much more mindful of the laws, even the sillier ones. There was a lot of deterrent. I didn't fear the police, but I had a lot more respect for them.

It would be great to find a way to combine the best of both systems, but I wouldn't even begin to know how.