Sure, but I would trust the police to handle their data with the same respect and circumspection that they handle all private data they must routinely encounter.
Police training teaches officers to try to elicit evidence of criminal behavior in every interaction with the public.
An officer is always, always, always, trying to find evidence that you have committed a crime any time they are talking to you, observing you, or searching your property. Every interaction with a police officer is an adversarial encounter.
While I disagree with your view that police reliably handle privacy and personal data with "respect and circumspection", it's unfortunate that you're being downvoted for expressing a legitimate opinion.
I suspect it's probably because the exceptions to the rule bump privacy violations to the top of the news by a very vocal and outraged minority. But if you consider the magnitude of personal data the police must have access to on a daily basis that is kept secure and confidential and eventually destroyed compared to the occasional news story we hear about, they're doing a much better job than we give them credit for.
Also - as IT people, I bet the majority of us have access to a huge amount of personal data on a daily basis as well. I would absolutely say the majority of us treat this data with respect and circumspection and that only a tiny few don't.
Please don't mistake me for a police apologist, I'm well aware of their capabilities and actions, especially border police, but the polarising us vs them culture separates us and makes us disempowered victims. If you genuinely, honestly care about data privacy and the privacy of those you communicate with, use encryption.
That's a rather naive view. If you come to their attention and provide a useful, low-friction solution to achieving their metrics then all those statements become invalid.
