The ploy of excluding the police from cuts is an old one. The state needs the police to keep the rest of us in our place. If they cut the cops, the latter might side with the people during a mass labor uprising and that will be the end for capital.
Worth a read.
http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/11840/cops_and_firefighters_the_public_sectors_new_untouchable_upper_class/