I recall when growing up here in Australia there were multiple efforts to teach us that the police are on your side, for the most part. Basically, in a troubled situation, they can be a great help. In a lot of ways, this is remarkably true, and I have approached a police officer on several occasions before for help over a law-and-order issue. Our cops are actually very approachable and tend to have a good set of skills like handling domestic violence.

But we get a lot of US TV and see a fair bit of US news. We wonder at how broken the relationship seems to be between the various police forces in the US and the citizens, even as it has and does taint how we regard our own police force.

Justine Damond behaved towards the Minneapolis police just like most any random Aussie would towards the New South Wales police. I don't think people are noticing this distinction.

Wade.