Why Are People Drawn To Be Law Enforcement Officers?

[Friday]

I'm pretty sure that people join the police force for the power trip, the same way soldiers enlist to kill, and parents have children in order to rape them.

Also don't forget the outstanding pay, benefits, working conditions, family friendly hours, job security, and being liked wherever one goes.

And what's better than polyester in the heat? Nuthin'.

Wait.

 

[Deleted member 20280]

Wicking Shirts all the way, Warm in Winter, Cool in Summer Figure Hugging and Black!

 

[blackemerald1]

Why are some people drawn to the Police Force? Well my view and it comes from very close experience is that the overwhelming majority are derived from and reflective of the community/ State/ Country they live in. Therefore, yes you will get police who are not suitable to be police whether it is dishonesty, power mongers, and all the other sins that they actually are as individuals. Then, putting on a uniform can transform them into worse.

However, the overwhelming number of Police, are good, law abiding citizens who believe and want to make a difference for the betterment of society and all of its citizens. Do not pull the apple tree or indeed the orchard out because of a few bad apples.

I am not being idealistic here. I do believe in a society that functions with safety for ALL. I do believe in each and every individuals right to be free, safe and protected from those who would do harm. And that is the fundamental reason that people are drawn to law enforcement except for as mentioned already morally corrupt individuals.

Police face life threatening situations daily, not just for themselves but for ordinary people in terrible situations. They are bogged down with tonnes of paperwork for everything they do. Work horrendous hours, often unpaid. The ghosts of the dead, mutilated, bereaved, anti-social behaviour and almost every human condition are experienced by Police with enough years in the job....will linger with them for the rest of their lives.(Not to mention their families lives).

Police are universally disliked until needed and then wanted promptly to resolve at times very difficult situations. And a lot cannot be resolved.

Police are rarely acknowledged for their successes but incredibly exposed publicly and privately for their mistakes. And yes they do make mistakes because they are people first, not computers and they must follow the law not just within their own Forces regulations but the normal community laws that everyone is supposed to abide by.

Police get PTSD and other mental illnesses, whole of body impairments....never to work again - in any job.No statistics are ever going to be 100% reliable in relation to suicides etc., because they often leave quietly feeling they have failed and once out, well they are not counted.

People are not drawn into the Police Force for big fat salaries, pensions and reasonable hours. What a laugh, I know of many whose wages are not enough to house and feed their families and have second jobs to supplement their incomes.

Those that get to leave even with a pension will be able to remember many events in minute detail till they die. Police do not get "danger money". Compensation is laughable.

People go into the Police Force with their own life experiences and most want to "make a small difference" in the community for the better. That is why I think people are drawn to join Police Forces.....IMO.

 

[Neverthesame]

When I was a child, I wanted to be several things, fire brigade, soldier, rock star, and of course police officer. What young boy doesn't want to single handedly save the day by charging into a bank robbery under a hail of machine gun fire, ducking and rolling through the fray, wound all the bad guys with well placed shots to the knees. Be the hero. Walk away without a scratch.
All of that is of course childish fantasy. I am a little older and hopefully a little wiser. I never did become any of the things listed above. I did however, get into the emergency medical field. I knew that I would see things that were horrible and sad. I also "knew" I could handle it. For the thrill of being a position to save lives, would far outweigh any negatives of the job. I was wrong. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. If anyone had told me that people were capable of committing such horrible acts, on purpose or on accident, I would never have believed it, until I saw it for myself.
A cousin of mine, married a very nice man. Who a few years ago became a firefighter. When at a family get together he told me what he was now doing for a living, I looked right at him and said. "Now why the hell would you go do something so damn stupid." Quite rude of me, I apologized later.
My point being, after this rather long venting post (sorry), is. I think some of law enforcement officers besides the reasons other people have mentioned before me, get into a job based on an inaccurate idea of what their job actually entails.

 

[afuneralinmybrain]

What young boy doesn't want to single handedly save the day by charging into a bank robbery under a hail of machine gun fire, ducking and rolling through the fray, wound all the bad guys with well placed shots to the knees. Be the hero. Walk away without a scratch.

I wanted to be the bad guys. ;p

 

[blackemerald1]

I knew that I would see things that were horrible and sad. I also "knew" I could handle it. For the thrill of being a position to save lives, would far outweigh any negatives of the job. I was wrong. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. If anyone had told me that people were capable of committing such horrible acts, on purpose or on accident, I would never have believed it, until I saw it for myself.

Neverthesame, I respect your opinions but just as you came to realise in your chosen profession no amount of training, preparedness and even devotion to a job can truly take the place of actually working in the job. Then the intensity and realization of what you are working as and what is expected of you becomes your reality. Nobody I expect could have told you about your job and made you decide to do something else. You also believed you could do your job. So do Law Enforcement Officers.

 

[Anarchy]

I wanted to be the bad guys. ;p

Wearing what though?

Your own stripey shirt, a stocking over your head and in full knowledge that what you were doing was wrong?
or,
A tax victim funded blue costume, shiny badge and big sense of entitled impunity?

 

[afuneralinmybrain]

Wearing what though?

Your own stripey shirt, a stocking over your head and in full knowledge that what you were doing was wrong?
or,
A tax victim funded blue costume, shiny badge and big sense of entitled impunity?

lmao
I'm an anarcho-communist, if that gives you any sense of the answer.
I have no love for cops. I've watched them as they wrestled my brother from a protest, twisting his limbs as he cried and begged for the pain to stop while they deliberately sat on him, obviously relishing in his pain.

99% of cops are Darren Wilson as far as I'm concerned.

 

[blackemerald1]

As far as I know and have read, the title of this thread is "Why are people drawn to be law enforcement officers".

I really wish that could be the focus of this thread rather than the recurring theme of Police being corrupt, wrong doers and low life's. If you want to bash the institutions of Police Forces all over the world (this is an international forum) or denigrate Police Forces generally then lobby your politicians, start another thread and go for it if you are motivated enough to do so and are allowed..... or whatever cooks your duck.



, ,

 

[Anarchy]

% of cops are Darren Wilson as far as I'm concerned.

Had to check whether whether wanting to be a bad guy was a reason for joining the (ever so slightly) tubby blue line.
After all, what wannabe murderer wouldn't relish the prospect of this sort of Orwellian language being used to cover the deadly encounters which he initiates?

“Any time I’m involved in an officer-involved shooting, be it a fatal one or non-fatal, it is always during my initial investigation listed as an assault on law enforcement,” explained the St. Louis County Police Detective who inaugurated the investigation of the Michael Brown shooting. “Officer Wilson … was the victim of the assault we were investigating.”

Once it had been established that the living, armed individual was the “victim” and the dead, bullet-ridden body had belonged to the “assailant,”...

excerpted from here http://freedominourtime.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/darren-wilson-and-reality-of-blue.html (IIRC Mr Grigg does not believe that intellectual property rights can even exist - he's ok about having his work quoted).

Even if it is "only a few" "bad apples", with incentives (or lack of dis incentives) like that - is it any wonder that the special privilege attracts those "few" "bad apples" to join up?

http://files.hgsitebuilder.com/hostgator608416/image/solidaritypin.jpg

 

[blackemerald1]

Anarchy you are pushing the wrong barrow. You are again taking someone else's articles, blogs...statistics and arming yourself with them to justify saying something denigrating about Police on this thread.

In my view your last two lines are totally unacceptable and destroys what I thought (perhaps incorrectly) was the question behind the Thread. Read it Anarchy.

There are Police officers on this site that have serious PTSD or relatives who live with former Police Officers with PTSD. Show some basic human respect and stop nit-picking your "examples" of Police who have injured or killed another human life.In my opinion whatever the circumstances, this is the wrong thread to be saying these things. You certainly have a "beef" with Police officers.

Do you honestly think that good people who are Police and have had to use lethal force in the line of their duty just go back to usual after a few beers down at the pub with their mates? No Anarchy, most of them get sick, get PTSD or other illnesses and NEVER forget that they took a life, regardless of the circumstances. Do you think that soldiers who kill or injure in the line of duty deserve the denigrating remarks you make about Police.

I am not going to comment on certain individual cases like you do, because it has nothing to do with the Thread.

I really think that your comments are so off kilter. As suggested to you by a staff member. Start your own Thread, call it what you like (if the staff and owner will allow you). You certainly show your inhumanity, the quotation of 99% Police..... etc., that you believed you had to use, shows that if other people agree with you, you feed off it to bolster your own seriously questionable take on Law Enforcement.

Have you heard the saying, "There but for the Grace of God go I."?

 

[Justmehere]

Had to check whether whether wanting to be a bad guy was a reason for joining

@Anarchy - You have given this reason again and again... You are not adding to the discussion about why people become law enforcement by continuing to repeat your view that they all go into it with the intent to do bad and horrible things. I have friends who became police officers. I don't become and stay friends with people who intend to do harm. Additionally, my intent with this thread had nothing to do with any individual case in the US, or any other singular country. Your citations are not only off topic, but it is also disrespectful to the international nature of this forum.

Your issues with law enforcement in the US being structured in a way that attracts people who seeks to do harm - that is another topic for another thread. Please, I encourage you to start one. Staff has encouraged you to take that conversation to a new thread as well, because trying to discuss it here is repeatedly pull this conversation off topic. It doesn't do your topic any justice to keep going on about it here.
@afuneralinmybrain - I'm pretty sure 99% do not go into the profession with the intent to become Darren Wilson. You are forgetting the topic of this thread. You also forget that this is an international forum and many people will have no idea who that person is.

As I have written before, I have seen and been a victim of horrible trauma at the hands of officers - so I'm not judging or diminishing your experience - but trauma by law enforcement is not the topic of this thread. That would be a good discussion to have, in a respectful manner, since it is on your mind.

This thread is about why people go into law enforcement. Discussing trauma by police officers and/or the view that all police officers are like one specific officer is another topic for another thread.

@Anarchy, @afuneralinmybrain - As previously suggested by staff, if you would like to discuss these other issues about law enforcement, Please, start that thread. Please do it respectfully, as there are people who are hurting who have been or currently are in law enforcement on this forum.

What is most sad to me about your posts is that if what you believe and claim is really true, nothing will change about the problems you both see and/or experience unless you build a bridge to connect with and/or understand the other side and why they are the way they are, and/or take constructive positive action to change what you believe is broken. Your remarks show an unwillingness to do either. Instead you just rant about how awful they are, and pull a conversation off topic - a conversations that was about trying to understand why people go into the profession.