If MY JOB is to enforce State law -....
Therein is the challenge. For a long time police officers' main job was to keep the peace; hence "peace officer."
The whole, Law Enforcement Officer is fairly recent and still held in disdain in some circles...including by many who OC.
In stead ...simply controlling whatever situation happens to present during the shift far too often seems to be the # 1 priority.
Controlling the situation tends to reduce the odds of getting killed.
There are about 10,000 different things that people can argue about. No way a cop can be an expert at everything from gun laws to water rights, property and easement disputes, to contract law and motor vehicle laws.
Obviously, there are a few key areas they ought to be firmly familiar with including their powers to arrest and detain, when they can search, etc. But--and with all due respect to all current or former police officers on the site--society is not looking for geniuses to be cops. Many departments don't require any college degree at all, merely a HS diploma or GED and academy. Photographic memories, law degrees, or extensive legal expertise are not requirements, nor are we paying the kind of money to cops that folks with those traits can command.
And frankly, I don't think police officers much need those traits. They need to be good people people. They need to be able to solve problems peacefully so everyone survives to go let a judge sort out details.
Peace officers mostly kept the peace. If someone sued someone else, or the lawyers at the state brought charges, they'd go serve warrants as needed. But most of their daily work was keeping the streets peaceable. See deepdiver's post on community policing.
And none of this is to excuse violation of citizen's rights. It is just to consider on what it is we can reasonable expect from police officers and the job we really need them to do.
Charles