In France you officially have recourse, but there are many ways to make it ineffective most of the time... Very few policemen end up in a court, and they (quite) never goes to jail even if they had a protestor eye out. And decision makers are never bothered...

In a democracy we should have a recourse other then creating a new party and becoming the government. With a strong esprit de corps between police and the judiciary this unfortunately isnt the case in a lot of democracies.

In any government you might have recourse against the police. There have been benevolent rulers through all time. In a democracy, the police are still the tool for the rich and powerful, and whether you're in Putin's democracy or the US's democracy, the police have to keep up appearances.