Police - civil servants or government goons?

S was telling me about her day yesterday and we got on the topic of the police. The local police in her reporting area can be a real pain in the ass when she needs to get information from them. She said the chief is actually helpful the majority of the time, but the beat cops are jerks who will not give her information that’s technically public knowledge. Apparently the Ypsilanti police are even worse, and will only let reporters look at the record, but will give out no information over the phone.

( long rant about my police experiences )