Another police officer, this one a very conscientious and dedicated officer, ran over a small child who had darted out in front of his vehicle during a high speed chase.  None of us thought our officer to be culpable, but without even debating the issue we went right to court and asked for the appointment of a special prosecutor.  The special prosecutor also agreed that the officer was not culpable - he had no chance to avoid hitting the child.  But we were shielded from any criticism that we were covering up or protecting our own.  It's inexcusable a special prosecutor hasn't been appointed in Ferguson.
Contrary to what some have written on Daily Kos, being a policeman is a tough job and a dangerous job, and most policemen, like teachers, are woefully underpaid.  Of course, the degree of danger depends on where the officer is located.  In Baltimore City, where I live, whole neighborhoods of mostly empty slums are controlled by well armed drug gangs, where shootings occur more nights than they do not.  Every major city has a law enforcement memorial dedicated to the police men and women who have lost their lives in the line of duty. In Washington, D.C., you can visit the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, dedicated to law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty.  From the website:  
On average, one law enforcement officer is killed in the line of duty somewhere in the United States every 58 hours. Since the first known line-of-duty death in 1791, more than 20,000 U.S. law enforcement officers have made the ultimate sacrifice.
The name of each of these over 20,000 officers is carved into the memorial wall, and every year, in May, officers from all over the United States parade through the streets of Washington to the memorial, where the names of those who have died in the line of duty since the previous May are unveiled and dedicated.
When I served as deputy district attorney, a number of officers told me that the most dangerous part of their job was approaching the driver of a vehicle they have stopped.  99 times out of 100 nothing goes wrong, they serve the citation and both motorist and officer go on their way.  But with so many guns these days and so many people carrying them, an officer never knows if that next traffic stop will be his or her last.
In short, with the danger, and the pay, I wonder why anyone would want this job.
We need the police.  Those of us who have been victims of crime have called 911.  We depend on the police to protect us and to limit crime.  We are imperfect people.  Remove authority, and some will revert to the worst possible behavior.  The worst of anarchy would immediately prevail.
But a community needs to respect their police, and the police need to respect the community. This need for mutual respect has clearly broken down in Ferguson, if it has even existed since the racial composition of this community changed with white flight.  Ideally, police men and women should be drawn from the community - the police should be part of us.  Do the Ferguson police officers even live in Ferguson?  I suspect few do.
And the donning of military uniforms, and the use of armored tanks, only separates the police from the community they are supposed to serve.  
If the police forces of Ferguson are revamped to reflect the community they serve, if the police donate their military weaponry back to the National Guard or federal armed forces, if bad cops can be weeded out, and the remaining officers and new hires trained in community and interpersonal relations, then Michael Brown will not have died in vain.