They are different even today in first world countries. Where I live, becoming a police officer is a three year education (equivalent to a bachelor's degree) and it's not easy to get accepted to the programme. Training on what the law actually says, de-escalation, handling mentally ill people etc. is an important part of this.

As a consequence, most cops are good human beings who care about their community.

This is also my personal experience, including a good friend of mine who opted for policing for these reasons after completing a degree in philosophy. He has been a beloved small town cop for many years.

Being a cop in the US has become vastly less dangerous which changed the dynamics around who becomes cops.

This would suggest that trend is reversing: https://nleomf.org/memorial/facts-figures/officer-fatality-d...

This website breaks down by cause and almost all of the difference is explicitly covid. https://www.odmp.org/search/year?year=2021

Covid is the #1 cause of death three years running.

Only if you ignore the size of the US police force, and more recently COVID. By far the #1 risk is the amount of driving police do, but policing in the US is nowhere close to as dangerous as being a truck driver.

We're they? Perhaps if you are white. Cops used to just harass minorities. Now they have decided that all non police must be punished and made to understand their place. Not saying it was better when they just harassed minorities, saying cops have always been power mad narcissists. Now they just have armored cars and better weapons

I believe he is being sarcastic.