Sounds like you worked in a pretty crappy office. There are no quotas in my office. I make my own charging decisions. Are there decisions that I enforce? Yep. Does the fact I might do something differently make it right or wrong. No. It is my opinion.
However, hindsight is 20/20. Sure, after the fact we can say, "Why did you break the door in? You could have just knocked." Did they know that at the time? Maybe. Or maybe they were just being careful. There are too many laws in the country. It's a nanny society. But who's fault is that? What are you asking for? Do we blame an officer for enforcing the law that is on the books? Or do we blame the legislator who passed it in the first place? And what happens if that officer says he doesn't like law? He gets fired. Until the Supreme Court tells him that a law is unconstitutional, he does not have the right to pick and choose which law he enforces. If he doesn't like the laws, then let him quit and try to change them. I don't want LEO's picking and choosing which law they get to enforce.
And as a former prosecutor, you should know that painting all of law enforcement with the same brush does them a great disservice.
