Well, the thing about those in policing is that not only is there such a wide variety of people, but also, a wide variety of spots where these people will fit in or spots that will sing to their abilities like the memorizing sirens in the movie O' Brother Where Art Thou and some of these spots are like incubators for questionable behavior. And yes, just like the military, all sorts of hyper-masculine people (both men and women - it was amusing when one of my male trainers known for being tough, would tell me to stay away from this large female officer because she "put hands on people too fast." 

When I was a rookie, this guy also taught me one way to get a non-compliant boyfriend out of a residence without a fight was to start moving furniture aside, especially glass things like shelves and tables, to telegraph to the guy that the fight was about to be on and that would more often than not, hasten their departure hands-free).

Sadly, one thing I believe so many do not realize is that in policing, there is just not an adequate system in place for really screening out more troubled future officers within the policing culture, or dealing with internal reportage of misconduct of other officers. I think I've told this before, but one time, on an extreme officer safety issue, I made a legitimate complaint about a sergeant and as the "investigation" evolved, I had another supervisor not only try to catch me in something similar to a "perjury trap", but another much higher supervisor let it be known that mere officers would not be tolerated making official complaints about supervisors (this "supervisor" sat on his ass getting his shoes shined while another officer was in a foot chase about a block away with a man armed with a handgun and did nothing. After another officer and I drove by his location and then drove back to see if he had moved, he had not - his car was parked in the same spot and when this was added to my complaint, the "perjury trap" was when the supervisor asked how did I know he did not move - did I sit there and watch him while the other officer was chasing the man with the gun?  The do-nothing supervisor lied and said he ran out to his car, started to drive down to the call and when the suspect was caught, he turned around and parked in the same spot.  The complaint was unfounded.). Another aspect is the perceived culture of a department and how it can attract like people - for example, if the department is known as an aggressive, tough, hands-on place, then word of mouth will encourage the hyper-masculine to apply because that will be a good place for them. Then, toss in all the peer pressure, those who refuse to change, the dinosaurs, the sadists, et cetera, and it is so easy to see that the ones who end up paying for all of this are the good officers. 

And don't get me on the critique that decent officers should turn in the bad ones and if they don't, they are just as complicit - that sort of behavior is missing in about all American occupations and professions. It's like a prosecutor points out in the movie Prince of the City, where are the doctors turning in other doctors for Medicare/Medicaid fraud or botched surgeries.  Or attorneys turning in corrupt attorneys.  Or judges.  My point is that I believe in America, no occupation is very good at winnowing out those who commit acts of misconduct and that's what I mean by there not being an effective system in place that allows for a way to deal with these people.  Too often the person making the complaint then becomes the target in a variety of ways.

As for working around some of these people - oh, man, some of them were just horrible in how they dealt with people, and oftentimes, such behavior was explained as a "style" thing rather than outright corruption, but there were a number of officers that I dreaded working next to because of their way of handling calls - both male and female (there was this one female where her simple body language could start a fight in a group of nuns.  Then, you had some males that would purposely push a person's buttons in attempts to further enflame the call to be able to take a desired action - for example, early in my days, oftentimes, especially in domestic issues, it was much easier to send someone to jail than to really try and solve the problem). 

Also, as you pointed out, there are also career stages people go through in a career in policing and these stages run the gamut. This will sound terrible, but one period in my own time after we had a high number of gang-related killings where no one would cooperate with the investigation, even the victim's loved ones, I lamented to another more veteran officer, "Why bother?" and his reply was, "It gets two off the street."  Even I know how terrible that sounds, but that is a stage many go through in the struggle to find that formula that allows you to maintain quality work when no one else gives a shit.

I loved working around female officers because more often than not, they don't carry the male baggage we males love to carry and they also tend to communicate better than males, but I would be a liar if I did not add, sometimes, it was a good feeling when that 6' 5", 250 lb, male co-worker pulled up behind you (then on the other hand, it also was a good feeling when a petite, excellent communicator pulled up behind you because you knew she wasn't going to be adding that masculine horseshit fuel to the fire. Then on the other hand to that, petite male officers often came with the "short man's disease" and often felt a need to prove themselves over and over again).

One last thing - one of the best pre-working lessons I ever received that later grew in importance, was a graduate course taught by this Indian professor about fostering policing with a base built upon a sincere appreciation of applying the sincere philosophy of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. When I took this man's course I didn't fully appreciate then what he was trying to get across, but through my time working, I came to believe one of the failures of policing is the failure to build upon that belief system.  

So, are you painting with a broad brush? Yes and no, because so many things influence all of this. But I absolutely agree that there is too much misconduct, criminality, and other acts of horrible humane behavior that go on and more needs to be done about it. Sadly, though, I think the makeup of policing is also a reflection of the American populace and behavior.

Ps.....now, when I talk about acts of misconduct and criminality, mainly I'm not talking about the obvious things like murder, rape, planting of evidence, stealing, and the like, mainly what I'm referring to is the culture or society within policing.  If one thinks of it, the obvious acts of criminality in policing are in a way easier to deal with than the cultural ones. Don't know if I adequately answered or not.  I hope I did. 

One way I used to gauge my admiration of a co-worker was to ask myself how that co-worker would treat my family if they did not know it was my family and believe me, there were some I hoped my family would never encounter (mostly it was just a lack of courtesy and respect and not that of worrying these co-workers would harm them). One time, an out-of-towner stopped in the building and asked a desk sergeant for directions.  The desk sergeant then asked the man if he had a couple of dollars and after the man said he did, the desk sergeant then told the man there was a gas station right down the street that sold maps. The desk sergeant was mildly reprimanded and then became a legend within the department.