Is the police force too powerful?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

While I agree 100% that "bad cops" should be punished harsher than they are now (like MUCH harsher....people in positions of power should be held to a MUCH higher standard than regular Joe...and if they commit a crime while abusing that position of power, they should certainly never have any authority again, should probably spend their life in prison and maybe they need to die), I don't see the cops having too much power. 

What power(s) would you be taking away from them?

Stop and frisk. The most obvious. Only an issue in one city, but that's also the largest in the country, so not moot.

And the protections against entrapment in the US are far weaker than in most countries.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Huh?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Just for starters. It's late anyway and I'm thinking of other stuff.

Here's an actually good example from a New York Express thread for once: http://nypost.com/2014/02/21/cops-hit-my-car-then-arrested-me-to-cover-it-up-suit

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Here's another example for dead0man: https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=181984.0

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

From that very thread:

This is kind of unbelievable.  There must be some information missing here.  What doctor is going to force someone to take medicine, go under general anesthesia and get a colonoscopy without their consent?  In what world would a colonoscopy be necessary to check someone's rectum for drugs?

Unfortunately, the believable aspect to this is that the police can arrest you for almost anything and strip search you as part of booking.  That's Constitutionally fine apparently.  This is a bridge too far.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The problem is that even the cops who aren't "bad cops" who do stuff like this will stand by and tolerate or defend those who do, see about how just about every police organization in the country spoke in support of the pigs who beat up Rodney King.

Also look at all those police organizations and sheriff's associations that were lobbying against legalizing marijuana in Colorado and Washington. They were basically unanimously opposed. So doesn't exactly disprove that almost all cops are assholes if they're all going to rally against pot like that.