Police officers are civilians. I know it's a pedantic point but I think it's important to reiterate this whenever I see non-police officers described as civilians. American society at least has started to elevate them to a special super-citizenship, it seems.
They certainly don't get treated like civilians. Just recently a court decided it would believe a cop over video of an event which I'd be shocked to see applied to anyone but cops.
Not according to the LAPD, whom the story covers. Police, firefighters, and paramedics are not considered "civilians" in their lingo. See how the LAPD has "civilian employees" like clerks and scientists to fill out their non-officer roles:
