Have you read War is a Racket by Marine General Smedley Butler? It has always been the same BS.

If by "VR," you mean CGI, only to an extent. And there was plenty of manual image alteration and staged scenes since the invention of photography.

We see the past through rose-colored glasses, but you are talking about the era of Jim Crow and prohibition. There may have been more Andy Griffiths in the past, but there have always been Barney Fifes as well. Police have always done what they could get away with doing.