Ask a cop, or someone who supports cops, what being a cop is all about, and you may get something along the lines of "cops protect and serve the people, being the thin blue line of protection between the citizen and the guys who want to harm them".
That sounds good. I've heard them parrot some version of this all my life. It's happy "Officer Friendly" propaganda.
But, what do cops actually do?
They enforce "laws", most of which do nothing but violate the life, liberty, and property to prop up the opinions of politicians and lawyers.
Cops are the guys who most often end up harming "citizens" exactly like those they pretend to protect you from. Trading one bad guy for another isn't a net benefit. And when you are forced to finance the bad guy's career to your own detriment, that's even worse.
Cops have been given special privileges due to their connections. They believe their "job" entitles them to extra "rights"- rights which don't exist and therefore can't be granted by anyone to anyone.
I don't "need" cops and neither do you. If you believe you do, you might want to hide somewhere soft and warm so that reality doesn't scare you further.