The problem is that a lot of people see the police not as a group that protects the people, but one that enforces the law and/or puts people in jail. With the former, you can assume the police will "do the right thing" if possible, because they want the best outcome for the people. With the later, you can assume the well-being of the average citizen is not the concern of the police.
You can probably assume that the wellbeing of people is the concern of many small-town, and generally local LEO's. Most people don't decide to be a beat cop in a suburb because of a power trip (that type dreams of a city), or to solve major crimes; they just want to help people. Unfortunately, they're not most LEO's, and they're not interacting with people where the most crimes are committed.
The problem is more to do with the "average", and the system as a whole. We have a prison industry, terrible public defense, increasingly permissive treatment of fairly shady information gathering, and increasing militarization in urban areas.
The other issue is that Officer Friendly might not shake you down, beat you up, or screw you over. He might shut up and look the other way when Officer Hairy F. Knuckle does though. Blue Wall and all. That's hard to prove or even discuss, but it's painfully real.
