Police are not actually above the law nor should they be . The fact that certain bad cops are actively protected by other cops when they actually break the law , which de facto puts them above the law , is the very thing that makes the justice system broken , as you put it . No one is saying that the cops that don ' t abuse power are bad . What people are saying is that the ones who do and there are more than a few should not be protected by the system when they break the very rules they have volunteered to obey and enforce . This isn ' t hard demanding police accountability is not anticop it is prorule of law . Edit also , this one cop I know is a good guy is NOT sufficient evidentiary support for 99 % of cops are good and don ' t abuse people any more than the fact that the vast majority of the cops I ' ve encountered are raging power tripping pricks is evidence that most cops engage in routine brutality . And if you don ' t see how race is relevant you are both living in a bubble of privilege and haven ' t been paying attention .