Why are police officers so hated?

Police officers are so hated because the overwhelming majority of them are incompetent, abuse their authority, and generally are not that smart. In fact, most police officers couldn't find ice cream in a Dairy Queen.

Case in point, recently I had to deal with police officers on two issues.

The first issue was with someone who was making threats to go out and beat or kill random people in the community. I had a letter submitted to me by the perpetrator which I turned over to the police when I reported an incident in which the perpetrator turned his ire towards me. The police took him away, which they said they took him to a hospital for evaluation, at which point he returned approximately 2 days later without any action taken against him; reportedly the doctors determined that the guy wasn't crazy. Personally, I don't know any sane person who writes down and makes verbal threats to go off and maim or possibly kill random individuals without provocation.

The second issue was an issue with a previous employer. A previous employer of mine withheld $405 out of my final paycheck for the purpose of depriving me of the money that he owed me. My previous employer attached an invoice to my final paycheck for items which they had but were too stupid to know they had, and for items that were given under no conditions and for which there was no written agreement as to any monetary compensation required in the event that the items were not returned. The police deemed the incident a civil matter. On face value it may appear to be a civil matter but the reality of the situation is that there are clear rules, procedures, and laws that outline incidents of this nature which a simple examination of these rules, procedures, and laws would clearly show that they had been violated; illegal. Therefore, if the premise of one's actions are illegal, and there are criminal violations that can be charged as a result of these illegal actions, then criminal charges should be filed. The problem that I faced when dealing with the police department regarding this issue is that they simply did not want to do their job. Period.

So, the conclusion that I draw from these and a plethora of experiences with police officers in the past is that people hate police officers because they are incompetent, they abuse their authority, and they are generally low educated people who seem to be incapable of using critical thinking skills. Moreover, I think people hate police officers mostly because it is their tax payer's dollars which employ the police, and like any other governmental institution they are getting ripped off.