And I don't really enjoy the part of my job that calls for graphic description of sadism. But this kind of novel calls for it. Readers like it. And I want to tell the truth. But since I have to do sadism, I'd rather have the bad guys be the sadists.
Cops do an impossibly difficult job.
I see the environment they work in. I do think many of them are heroes. So many authors write about the rogue cops, the rogue detectives. It's open season on them. I'd rather write about the cops who are trying to do a good job.