He realized that the sense of “protecting the community” was strong among even the most hard-nosed cops. But too often they couldn’t tell bad from good, so everyone was treated like a suspect. That, in turn, fueled resentment and eroded residents’ trust in the department. Then, when community members balked at cooperating with the police—eyewitnesses wouldn’t talk, victims wouldn’t ID their assailants—some officers took that to mean “we’re the only ones that actually care,” Armstrong said. “They felt that ‘it’s just us; we’re the only ones trying to figure out who killed these people.’ And
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