Since it's been pointed out to me (repeatedly) that I'm incapable of writing a blog post without referencing the 1960s, let's just get it out of the way in the first sentence. Respect for our local police, according to a new poll, is the highest it's been since 1967. And the reason for the current spike is probably not that much different than it was 49 years ago. Call it a backlash: In '67, a response to the notorious "Long Hot Summer" of rebellion in Detroit, Newark and other American cities and the rise of "Black Power movements; in '16, reaction to (much less intense) unrest in places like Charlotte, Baltimore and Ferguson and to the#BlackLivesMatter movement.