Unfortunately the make up of the police not just the met also reflects our society IMO despite the few rotten apples ruining for the vast majority. My personal experience is to stay well away from having to deal with the police if I can help it.
Where I have had dealing with them - one racist assuming I couldn’t speak English because I kept quiet and another from my own ethnic. community who was riot police who joined in his words in “order thump cnuts”.
Also failing to breathalyse the driver who crashed into my sister’s car, who subsequently lied and blamed the crash on my sister.
They were also limited when it came to my parents house getting burgled.
The reality is that all of this reflects on our society. Despite how embarrassing it is, how many people actually do enjoy the insults, jeering and school yard politics that's seen in the house of commons. I'd say many people. Look at football and the embarrassing scenes that will still regularly see there. NHS doctors regularly encountering racism (
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60208523).
These are just a few of the issues we face. Culturally the reality is we are not as...for want of a better term, civilised as we like to pretend. The UK has spent years trying to portray itself as the beacon of civilisation by rewriting and ignoring it's own history. We've invaded almost every country on the planet, we created an empire that decimated indigenous populations and has lead to hundreds of years of poverty in those countries. We created famines, got Chinese people addicted to opium to win a trade war over tea and even created the first concentration camps in the Boer war. We literally invented football hooliganism and it's still seen as a badge of honour.
There are many reasons for all of this, but one of the biggest ones for me is that if there are other countries worse than us, we seem to then consider ourselves good. Yes there are far worse places to live and Britain by comparison to other countries is a very safe and nice place to live. That certainly doesn't mean it's the best or even good and it definitely doesn't mean that people should stop trying to make the country better. However, too many people are afraid of change and aren't willing to do what's needed. This leads to my second point which is that we are a society (amongst others) that puts too my emphasis on individual rights, liberty and freedom. Don't get me wrong these are all wonderful things and are important. However, when an individual's rights and freedoms is more important than societies then there is a problem. One person should not be more important than the group in most aspects of life (not everything). Another issue with this is the idea that people's rights and what they deserve are the most important thing. I many other cultures it is not about what you have a right to, but what responsibilities and obligations you have. You are part of a system that has been growing for centuries, you aren't entitled to anything (again ignore basic human rights). Rather than doing what is best for everyone we are only concerned about what is best for us and individuals or our immediate family. Simply we view the world through our own tiny view point and don't take the time to learn about issues and see them from different points of view. This is another issue, education in this country is not as good as people think it is. Again yes there is worse in the world, but our system is designed to train people to follow instructions. We don't give people the skills they need to become independent learners and thinkers. It's why so many believe conspiracy theories or what ever the Daily Mail tells them, because they cannot think objectively for themselves, they don't have the tool or skills.
There are other issues as well, I have started to realise just how many T.V shows and films portray criminals as heroes or antiheroes against the establishment. Obviously crime is not simple, but too often it is glamorised by the media and gives people the wrong impression. Social media also has a huge amount to answer for.
My point is that when people try to dismiss these incidents as isolated or one off, they are lying or fooling themselves. Yes many people are not like that, but far too many people in this country are like that. Sexism, racism, homophobia etc... disguised as banter. As a society we have to think about what we value most and unfortunately it's not the right things in most cases. Look at doctors and nurses during the pandemic. They literally risked their lives and in France they got a significant pay rise. Here, we clapped. Why are more people not out campaigning for a better wage for doctors and nurses? How about those who worked in supermarkets and public transport etc... the key workers who were actually needed. The reality is it costs money (like this levelling up needs if it is to actually have an impact), but as a society we are too focused on our own wealth and needs. We ignore the fact that with some proper investment and regulations our society could be fairer or more equal. However, it might mean that we personally are slightly worse off and we are not willing to give up a little to make others' lives better.
Finally I will acknowledge that this is very general and not reflective of everyone.
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