Though I’m personally always wary of people who choose a career which grants them authority over random citizens
You hit on what might make all Cs not Bs in a socialist future -- you take away much of the authority they have over other citizens. You decriminalize a ton of stuff we have on the books to harass poor people and people of color. You give a lot of their responsibilities (dealing with noise complaints or people having a mental health crisis) to non-police public servants. You take guns away from your average beat cop. You take our hollowed-out laws restricting searches, interrogations, and self-incrimination and you beef them back up. You condition their jobs on living in the communities they police. You not only make it easier to fire cops over misconduct, but you make it a priority to prosecute those cops.
Between all that and a society where no one's basic needs are unfulfilled, you might be able to have an institution that handles real crimes with actual victims, but that doesn't turn into a bastion of reaction.
You hit on what might make all Cs not Bs in a socialist future -- you take away much of the authority they have over other citizens. You decriminalize a ton of stuff we have on the books to harass poor people and people of color. You give a lot of their responsibilities (dealing with noise complaints or people having a mental health crisis) to non-police public servants. You take guns away from your average beat cop. You take our hollowed-out laws restricting searches, interrogations, and self-incrimination and you beef them back up. You condition their jobs on living in the communities they police. You not only make it easier to fire cops over misconduct, but you make it a priority to prosecute those cops.
Between all that and a society where no one's basic needs are unfulfilled, you might be able to have an institution that handles real crimes with actual victims, but that doesn't turn into a bastion of reaction.