Why is everyone surprised …

Nice to have a bit of physical imagery to wave around when you're dealing with a liberal who insists police are these neutral non-partisan agents.

Not that it'll necessarily work, of course. I can already hear some pensioner with a Harris sticker insisting that "um, aktuly, its the union that's being violent and the police who are being civil and restrained". But for the younger and more clear-eyed, its a damning current indictment of a system you mostly just read about in history books.

By design they are meant to maintain law and order

Not at all or qualified immunity, officer and prosecutorial discretion wouldn't exist.

... not to serve and protect people

Correct, they're asset protection for the highest earners.

Taxpayers. We’re the fucking taxpayers. This is after NY gave Amazon $3.5B in tax breaks.

https://www.taxnotes.com/featured-analysis/new-york-amazon-and-company-specific-tax-incentives-microcosm-national-problem/2024/09/20/7l69r

They're not traitors .... they never had any loyalty to the population to begin with

They were created to 'maintain law and order' .... not some fanciful idea of protecting or serving people.

There’s nothing more perverse than a cop union.

Teen Vogue (I know, right?): Police Unions: What to Know and Why They Don’t Belong in the Labor Movement

but when it's the cop's union under scrutiny, they stand united.

because it's getting them off of a murder rap

We cannot have a tiny number of very rich elite without a very large number of working class serving the interests of those rich elite rather than their own.

Severity varies. Some are class traitors, some just need that paycheck.

I don't think that's logically a possibility? Not unless the police also have a group of thugs that can assault them without consequence.

Being a lapdog of the capital class has its benefits. The police have some of the strongest unions in the nation and are way way overcompensated for their level of training and education.

They might be, but it's also winter and they are wearing big jackets and a bullet proof vest.

They're helping break a strike like good little oligarchy stooges.

Looks like they're making a corridor so that scabs can get in and warehouse supplies can get out. Cops put themselves in between the business and the strikers so that they can treat any conflict with the business as an attack on the "neutral" police.

Israeli settlers employ similar tactics in Gaza. You'll have civilians go into Palestinian homes and onto Palestinian worksites, set up makeshift structures, and declare the property there's. Then the IDF hover over their shoulders, ready to open fire on any Palestinian who confronts the settler.

In this case, the cops on the line aren't the ones you need to worry about. It's the cops waiting at the APC ready to charge in, crack heads, grab picketers, and drag them to jail if any of the first group cries foul that you have to worry about.

It "looks" like the police are protecting delivery trucks, and blocking strikers from the drive. They're preventing the strikers from walking across the drive and hindering deliveries.