The police are fundamentally a low paid blue collar labor force with union protections. They are not your college professor or the protagonist of a murder mystery, but more like a plumber or construction worker.

The moment you understand that, it's not a mystery that they sort of blindly accept tools that seem to work without deep introspection. They are not equipped to be a data analytics shop, they are equipped to fill out paperwork and sometimes get into tussles.

> The police are fundamentally a low paid blue collar labor force with union protections

Please keep in mind that this is not true worldwide. In various countries you're only admitted after 1.5-2 years of police-specific education. You might still not be a police officer if they seem you unfit.

Also, you don't seem to value plumbers or construction workers. A colleague used to be a construction worker. It's very interesting to hear the knowledge he has on that. Plus pretty damn handy for understanding how to improve your house. Just because he did a lot of work with his hands doesn't mean he isn't damn bright.

At no point did I indicate I don't value blue collar workers such as plumbers or construction workers, quite the opposite. At most I said the police were low paid blue collar workers - and in general I do believe most blue collar workers are underpaid. For what it's worth, I do also value our police forces, even with their flaws. But a blue collar profession has a different set of knowledge handling than a white collar one - it's not that one is better or worse, but they are intrinsically different ways of knowing.

> Please keep in mind that this is not true worldwide

You're correct and my comment is US centric. What I find interesting is that some US cities have seemingly moved farther from a more educated police force, removing requirements around having college degrees and reducing trainings.