«

[Sebatianos]

Well we have a slightly different problem here in Slovenia. The thing is, that polce force had free hands to do whatever they wanted (back in the days of communism - around 15 years ago) and that included police brutality. Now they just don't know anymore what to do. The level of education for an average policofficer is quite low really. You just need any highschool and a special course in police procedure. That's why many people that broke the law can walk free, because the court has to dissmis the case, due to a mistake in the procedure.
There are capable officers too, those that went to the police school, but there's only around a half of them and even those are heavily influenced by the old way of thinking (police brutality - to gain respect) because their tutors are mostly retired officers.

But not to go off topic, this basically means, that people won't respect you if you're incompitent to do what you're supposed to do (police here has no respect).
So here might be another way to earn respect - when in doubt ask. There's no way in asking - but there can be a lot of shame in the failoure (if it was due to your incompetance and stuborness).