Why are police in Baltimore so angry?

They're shoving 87-year-old women to the floor, beating up suspects, trampling on the Constitution and sending offensive emails to colleagues with the worst lines written in ALL CAPS.

It's like they're at a Trump rally every day.

Is it the job?

Or is it them?

It's not every officer; we know that. But it's a lot. The “few bad apples” theory lost all credibility last week, when the Department of Justice released its findings from a pattern and practice investigation into the Baltimore Police Department. “Systemic deficiencies” was the phrase the executive summary used to explain the racist, unconstitutional, vindictive and violent behavior of certain officers.

The reality is likely closer to what Lt. Col. Melvin Russell told a New York magazine reporter last year: 15 percent are model officers, 15 percent are problems, and the rest can bend either way with the wind.

Sure, the same could be said for workers in most professions, but the stakes are higher for police officers. Their badges (and guns) give them immense power over other people. When they can't handle the responsibility that comes along with it, the wrong people wind up arrested — 10,163 of those arrested between November 2010 and July 2015 did not merit prosecution, according, according to the DOJ report — or worse. Take the teen-age boy who says he was publicly strip-searched for a second time because he dared complain about the first incident. Or the multiple women who complained of attempts to coerce them into sex in exchange for their freedom. Or that 87-year-old grandmother who said her shoulder was broken because she wouldn't let an officer into her basement.

Granted, the job is rough. Police officers deal with the worst of humanity and take more than their share of abuse in carrying out their duties. Most of us couldn't hack it. Those who do it well are true heroes, every single day they show up. Those who don't are a menace.

Even those whose greatest infraction is a bad attitude do damage to the uniform and community relations. Earlier this year, exiting I-83 on my way to Bolton Hill for dinner, officers wouldn't let traffic cross North Avenue onto Mt. Royal because protesters were apparently on the way. It was not obvious what was happening, though, and some drivers were clearly confused. One man a couple of cars ahead asked for an explanation, and an officer lit into him for his gall while the rest of us gawked.

Maybe that officer was having a really bad day and lost it just for a minute. But that minute left a bad impression that extends to his brethren. (Here's a tip I learned from 10 years in the restaurant industry: Nobody cares about your bad day.) It's also the kind of defensiveness that can worsen a simple situation. The Justice Department report found that the BPD regularly “uses overly aggressive tactics that unnecessarily escalate encounters, increase tensions and lead to unnecessary force.”

An essay in a 2014 FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin listed 10 characteristics a police officer should possess: initiative, a strong sense of ethics, respect for and knowledge of laws, good communication skills, common sense, civility, a service mentality, humility, controlled temper and a thirst for new knowledge.

That means people who want to fight crime, know right from wrong, respect the Constitution, understand that their relationship with the community is critical and that the public good is more important than their needs, genuinely want to make the world a better place, are self-confident without being cocky, are neither defensive nor hotheads, and want to constantly improve.

That's a tall order, but it's a tall job. While it's a rare few who can be all those things all the time, the best officers are striving toward them every day. If that's you — keep on keeping on, and thank you for your service. If it's not, ask yourself: “Why?” Maybe it's time to consider another career.

Tricia Bishop is The Sun's deputy editorial page editor. Her column runs every other Friday. Her email is tricia.bishop@baltsun.com; Twitter: @triciabishop.