I mean, I get what both of you are saying, but I’d argue that the phrase “power corrupts” still applies here.

It’s a feedback loop of being above the law that feeds into these police gangs (like the one in Texas, I believe, that were called because “two black men are staying with a white woman.” The gang went over and sexually assaulted and then pulled the trigger of a gun they shoved in one of the two guys’ mouth. They literally pulled the “let’s sprinkle a little crack on ‘em and get out of here” move. They said it was a drug deal gone wrong—yes, they planted drugs.)

These guys push each other to test the limits of their power abuse further and further. Just like 4chan users tried to one-up each other’s shocking memes and shit, these groups of cops try to out-“badass” each other.

So I do think that their power plays a part in this. Of course the power didn’t make them racist pedophiles, but—especially in Germany, they got a taste of getting away with things people never get away with, and they explore those things. In Germany, sharing and displaying swastikas is illegal. So, I think the taste of untouchability that comes with being a cop definitely fed into their sharing and espousing these views.