Police are vastly outnumbered everywhere. In reality their ability to do their job relies on the support of the community, and society as a whole.
On the community side, if they lose support they can up the violence to a certain point, and then the community just decides to return violence. This can be seen in the "police no-go" neighborhoods popping up in immigrant communities in Europe, and in the extreme in places like Mogadishu, where government policing doesn't exist for practical purposes.
When the whole society begins to question the police you get things like juries that convict cops that didn't actually do anything wrong, and very restrictive laws/policies. There's currently a bill floated that would require LEO's to get supervisor approval before unholstering. Obviously that bill is going nowhere, but it's a red flag that at least some legislators have completely lost faith in the Police.
I think it's telling that here, on a forum that is pretty conservative, older, and pretty veteran heavy we routinely have conversations about lack of trust in Law Enforcement. Hawkmoon said a couple days ago that he thinks LEO's are teaching techniques to justify shooting people behind the scenes. We're a LONG way from Andy Griffith when normal folks think that cops are planning how to shoot folks and justify it.
On the OP, Sure. If you think that the cops are out to get you and your friends, and you can't get a fair shake from them, and they are in your neighborhood, and you have them outnumbered 20 to 1, why would you even let them pretend they have authority? I'm kind of surprised that they managed to arrest anyone.