[tcmart14]

To add on. Even outside the scope of funding. There is an interesting trend in local politicians elected to city council, mayor, etc and having backing of the police union. Any serious action that would cause a culture change that is unwanted by the police could result in loosing the backing of the police union, hence, a good chance of loosing an election. So change on the local level is unlikely to happen.

[lotsofpulp]

It is not a recent trend, it is simply a consequence of sufficient voters not able or willing to do sufficient due diligence and voting in the election.

100% of the cops and their family and friends will be voting for the politician that favors them. Will sufficient local voters not associated with cops also vote? Probably not.

Few people want to go to work their jobs, raise their kid, and then also dig into the city budget to find out which politician is proposing increasing retirement benefits for cops that will cause massive increases in spending 30 years down the road.

In many ways, our “democracy” relies on a certain amount of people doing the “right thing”, even though they could get away with worse. Too many people try to get away with stuff, and it will start to unravel.