The biggest gang in the world.

The people you run from.

A person whose job it is to enforce the laws passed down by the government. As in any job, there are good and bad police officers. Often sworn at for issuing speeding tickets by the ignorant who fail to realize that more people die in automobile accidents each year than in weapon violence; usually speed is a factor. Usually thankless job, until someone finds themselves needing the police, at which point attitudes often change.

A group of people sworn to uphold the law. Unfortunately the only way to be a truly honest member of the police is to know nothing about fellow police.

Joe felt he was an honest policeman, even though he knew:

Officer X was protecting two drug houses
Officer Y has sex in his cruiser.
Officer Z said he was patrolling and was really at his house playing Xbox.
Officer Z also kept a sack of weed and .357 magnum he found in a suspects car.

Joe said he is honest. One has to wonder if Joe know he would have been fired for failing to reporting 1% of what he has seen in the private sector.

A honorable calling which is thankless and low paying. Also, a job dealing with the ignorant, the drunk and the stupid. Usually spending long nights away from family dealing with donut jokes from people who have no clue, getting spit on and disrespected while wasting time on charges that will be dismissed anyway by a chickenshit DA in a pinstripe suit the following month. Originally From the latin, "beatemus et releasus" (beat and release).

A usually normal person sometimes given too much power. While police are definitely a necessity in any civilized society (in at least one form or another), in our 'nanny state' nation cops are known for giving people tickets for going too fast, commonly when there's no one in danger, busting up teenage parties, and arresting people for smoking marijuana who are not infringing on the rights of others. They have also been used as an excuse for gun control, except that in reality you need to be able to defend yourself and not rely on someone else.

Many people hate cops because of the 'pig' stereotype. There certainly are many who fit this; pushy, angry, forceful, et cetera. While it is important to be able to keep track of someone, it's not right to resort to extreme measures for bizarre reasons of 'safety' when there is no direct threat present. Also, as described before, many people hate cops because they frequently waste peoples' time with bureaucratic nonsense instead of truly protecting the people from dangerous criminals. However, this is more related to bad laws and flaws in a greedy and shortsighted system than the officers themselves.

1. A very misunderstood group of people: They protect you, they keep murderers, rapists, and other such motherfuckers off the streets.
2. Assholes about loud music.