Chanced across the third Lethal Weapon. Reminded again of how police abuse of citizens has always been a regular part of "escapist" cinema. There's even a scene where they "hilariously" threaten to shoot a jaywalker. But the bad guy is an even worse cop, so this is OK.

Cop movies are constantly telling audiences that the "bad cops" are corrupt and nihilistic, dealing drugs or guns, murdering witnesses. But the hero cops who terrorize suspects to get info, dangle sources from high windows, and go on vigilante revenge sprees are "good cops."

One of the Dirty Harry movies -- Magnum Force, the second one -- tried to blunt criticisms of the first movie that Harry was a fascist and racist by making the bad guys a squad of executioner cops on motorcycles. They looked like robot assassins. Harry seemed human and "good."

That was the film where we learned Harry's wife was killed by a drunk driver. This detail -- embellished for Lethal Weapon -- also "humanizes" Harry so that he can taunt black suspects, walk into private businesses and start beating people up, etc., but still be the good guy.

This thread could be 1000 entries long and not even begin to scratch the surface of how American movies condition audiences to accept unconstitutional and sometimes flat-out evil behavior by cops (and soldiers) as "just part of the job."