What perhaps pisses me off most in discussions about "should we have police", particularly with liberals, is the incredibly patronizing "well, they are necessary to keep society safe".

Like, do you genuinely think that we have somehow completely failed to consider this extremely obvious argument that has been thrown at us literally since we were children, and that gets reinforced on a daily basis in pretty much every form of commercial media that there is?

How is it in any way respectful towards your discussion partner to make that assumption? That they must have not only spent zero time thinking about the topic, but are not even aware of the ubiquitous argument that "everybody knows", and it falls upon you to educate them?

If this is how you start that discussion, then I'm sorry to break it to you, but you're not actually trying to have a real discussion - you're just looking for ways to convince *yourself* that all is fine, and harming the people you're talking to in the process.