I'll warn ahead of time, this is going to be a serious rant.
As a young citizen of New Jersey living no farther then 15 minutes away from mahwah, I have got a thing or two to say about the police in my area. Real Estate in this area is expensive as hell since NYC is not a long drive away. The area consists of infinite sprawling suburbs filled with middle class families living off of jobs in the city (where the money is). These are hardworking people who have a lot to loose and a little to gain from the forms of crime that the municipal police usually deal with. This makes Police work in the area rather dull, compared to cities like Hackensack and Paterson (or Camden...). It would make sense then for Police resources to be allocated to areas with higher levels of violent crime, but instead, these quiet suburban communities feed their pigs on the absurdly high property taxes levied on the absurdly expensive properties. Since the Police are given such a high budget they need to show that it is going to use. My town was one of the first in the area to replace their crown vics with dodge chargers, as well as acquiring several hybrid SUVs. They also need to catch enough "criminals" to show that they are needed.
Throw an over-paid pig in a new car with a new laptop which he can use to look up anyone's criminal record in seconds and they feel like they are ready to push crime to extinction. Every minor traffic offense, every 0.7 gram marijuana deal, every underage party, and every case of loitering must be eliminated. Since the police have eliminated all entertainment (that comes at a cost my generation can afford) from an entire county, we sit around and do nothing but smoke cigarettes. Apparently this looks too much like drug dealing to ignore so the police will use any shred of probable cause they can find to invade your life and look for the weed. When they don't find it, there is always something they can write you a ticket for.
its fucking bullshit