[Animal]

As a former peace officer, I feel I need to respond to the statements I've read here.
Police were intended to enforce laws. Most police forces do not issue parking tickets, these are handled by city officials and is strictly a city matter, of course this may vary depending on where you live.
Excess speed kills, period. The whole point of issuing a ticket is in homes that it will deter the offender from speeding and potentially risking innocent lives. Mix speed and alcohol and it becomes a deaadly mixture thus traffic is a very important aspect of law enforcement. Lower speeds save lives!
However, I don't believe that your beef is with your local law enforcement agency but rather with your politicians who are deciding the funding needs for the force, who are undoubtedly under funded and over worked.
Police officers put their lives on the line every shift without question and an incredibly stressful environment. Traffic stops are always an unknown.
Your friend may not have been a dangerous criminal, but he may have been so therefore backup was necessary to protect the lives of the officer and your friend.
It would be nice if we could have an officer posted on every street corner or receive tips on every robbery, murder or rape before it happens, but that is un realistic and logistically impossible so police patrol higher crime neighborhoods.
I worked both traffic and green team for four years, usually 4 ten hour shifts on and three days off. My ten hour days often turned into 13 or more hours, beause of the tremedous amount of paperwork required to be completed for something as simple as a broken taillight.
It's not a drastic restructuring of law enforcement that's required. The police are doing their jobs by enforcing the laws and a broken taillight is a ticketable offense. As for the search of the vehicle I am not privy to the entire details of the stop, but I'm sure there was sufficient suspicion to warrant a search. The police are protecting you, my friend.