The police are considered a well regarded source by the general public:
"THOUSANDS of people plead guilty to crimes every year in the United States because they know that the odds of a jury’s believing their word over a police officer’s are slim to none."
Your article is inaccessible to me beyond the first 2 paragraphs. Please provide additional quotation. I do see that it is in the opinion category, so perhaps a more reliable source could be provided? Something like a main article of the NYT would probably have less chance to be skewed into a bias, than an opinion piece by the author of "Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness".
The reason I would like to know more, is because I learned so many years ago of the importance of doubt in criminal cases in the US. As Wikipedia tells it[1]:
>Beyond a reasonable doubt is the highest burden of proof in any court in the United States. Criminal cases must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
If it's currently the case where all that's needed for a suspect to be found guilty, is for a police officer to say they are, then the entire justice system needs to be reworked.
Then it is not a well regarded source any more.