choosing to be a cop is not the same as having religious beliefs that happen to be shared in part by other people who do terrible things in its name. believing in Islam isn't a choice, any more than believing in God or a god or gods or none. becoming a cop is absoluely a choice.
choosing to become a cop is choosing to take part in an institution that has shown itself to be violently racist, and an institution whose key goal is to uphold that system and to protect the state and its capitalist goals, not the people who truly need it. and joining bc you think you can "change" that from the inside would be like a vegan signing up to work at a slaughterhouse. you're either going to have to compromise your ethics or you're going to get canned or quit, because that isn't the way you make a change to an entire institution.
are all cops, as human beings, terrible people? no. but they've willingly signed up to do terrible things in the name of the state, and for every particularly terrible, outwardly racist cop, there's 100 who let shit slide, which makes them culpable. and the ones who don't let it slide don't keep their jobs long.
for every Jason Stockley, vowing to he's going to "kill that [n word]," doing just that, planting evidence, and getting acquitted, there's 100 more that back that behavior up by continuing to willingly take part in that system.
and for every Anthony Lamar Smith, or Walter Scott, or Baltimore PD situation where cops are literally caught on tape murdering people and/or planting evidence, there's 100 that aren't caught on tape, and the ones who are STILL don't get convictions (or, as in the Walter Scott case, the cop took a plea deal to a way more minor charge).
