Excellent post.
I think there must be a certain amount of "straw that breaks the camel's back" out there as well. A cop sees and deals with all kinds of bad stuff on a daily basis. He also sees what he perceives as the justice system coming up short when felons are returned to the streets. Combine the two, the next guy resists arrest and gets a lot of the cop's built up anger and stress taken out on him. Ongoing training and evaluation of police is needed but, as you say, the shortage of qualified applicants only worsens the problem.
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