I would argue there are no apologies necessary for this post above because it isn't insulting to small towns. Bri is speaking facts here, and acknowledges that some of these issues may present themselves with bigger agencies as well - but seem to be more prevalent with extremely small agencies serving small towns - for predictable reasons.
Ofcourse not every small town or small agency is affected by nepotism or subject to local political interference. But it isn't super uncommon either.
if major crime is rare, or any crime requiring a law enforcement response is rare for that matter, it doesn't make sense for that small agency (sometimes consisting of 1 dude and a handful of part time support staff) to spend a ton of money sending that officer away for advanced training courses.
Having knowledge of the local penal codes, and being able to detain/arrest/release individuals in a way the courts will recognize, and basic qualifications on equipment is probably enough.
But the low pay that comes with a bare minimum service, combined with local politics (including some families better connected than others) does create a genuine opportunity for a toxic workplace, and pressure to target some individuals over others.
It's the nature of the beast, or at least has the real potential to be.
Bri isn't wrong in that at all.
Uvalde, Texas, enters the chat, although it seems money wasn't a big issue:
The city of Uvalde spent 40% of its municipal budget on its police department in the 2019–2020 fiscal year,
[15][34] and UCISD, the school district operating Robb Elementary School, had multiple security measures in place at the time of the shooting.
[35][36] The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department (
UCISD PD) had a six-officer police department responsible for security at the district's eight schools.
[37] It had also more than doubled its expenditures on security measures in the four years preceding the shooting, and in 2021, it expanded its police force from four officers to six officers.
[16] The state of Texas had given UCISD a $69,141 grant to improve security measures as part of a $100 million statewide allocation made after the
2018 Santa Fe High School shooting, in which ten people were slain.
[16] The district also had a security staff that patrolled door entrances and parking lots at secondary school campuses.
[36] Since 2020, Pedro "Pete" Arredondo had served as UCISD's police chief.
[35][36][37]
en.wikipedia.org