It could be worse and sometimes is. Policemen are not lawyers, nor are they hired gunfighters. There are always exceptions, of course, mostly in people's minds. A policeman's job is made difficult in that they exist within a world of expectations that does not necessarily conform to the written law, although parts of the law are quite elastic and can be stretched to fit most any circumstance. It's easy to see how laws about "disturbing the peace," "resisting arrest," and "vagrancy" can be overused. On the other side of the coin, there are plenty of people, as just mentioned, who want the police to do even more than they do or are authorized to do, for one reason or another--but not to them. Essentially, it's like people want some laws enforced very strictly but others not at all (like speed limits). In other words, some people believe very strongly in the law but only as if they wrote all the laws themselves.
But as has been said, there must be order: da muss Ordnung sein!
