(sorry for the long response)
That is a really interesting list of pro’s and con’s you have TechBrute. I’d say every single one of your pro’s is either wrong or not really much of a reason for joining law enforcement. I’ll try to explain why and then try to explain why I think people pick a career in law enforcement.
* Law Enforcement Officers don’t “get†to carry a gun, they have to carry a gun. Strapping on a gun belt every day before you go to work to “fight crime†is shockingly different then putting a gun on your waist each day for your own personal self-defense needs. In the latter a gun is needed to deal with bad luck or poor choices, a fairly low likelihood of need. In the former the gun is needed because you are required to spend your workday dealing with others poor life choices, a fairly high likelihood of need.
* Deciding if law enforcement actually “makes a difference†or not is hard to do. It is virtually impossible to quantify any sort of deterrence effect, and the court system really has the final say in keeping a criminal out of society. Of course, that same court system would be pretty ineffective without a “strong arm of the law†at work. In the end I think it is safe to say that most people believe America would be a far worse place without a law enforcement presence. I know I believe that.
* Paid administrative leave is usually used to avoid firing an individual while a matter is still under investigation. Of course some things are actually punished with “days on the beach†but my understanding is that it is usually for policy type violations, not actual criminal violations. You know, an avoidable accident in a government vehicle or something similar. Of course every agency has it’s own policy so it might be different where you are…
* I would agree that LEO’s generally cut other LEO’s a break when it comes to traffic tickets. Then again, most law enforcement around where I live cut concealed handgun license holders a break too…and firemen…and paramedics…Of course, joining law enforcement just so you can get out of a couple of traffic tickets is a pretty stupid reason.
* In a “situation†an officer certainly does have the power to “make people do what he says†but then that isn’t so much an advantage as it is a burden. Do you have any idea why an officer has to control a “situationâ€? The majority of the time an officer is reacting to something an individual does, and trying to react to a pistol shot coming from the gun hidden in the individuals front pocket is pretty tough to do. Asking (or from your perspective “makingâ€) that same individual keep his hands out of his pockets is a much easier and safer option that, when done properly, doesn’t hurt anybody.
* I certainly can’t speak for all law enforcement agencies, but when I joined there were over ninety thousand applicants, less than a thousand were actually hired and made it through all of the training. I’d figure that’s a good bit more stringent set of qualifications than most of the other jobs out there.
Now after all of that, I’ll tell you why I think people pick a career in law enforcement; and that is to help their fellow man. Most every person in law enforcement saw some sort of a problem in either American, their state, their city or some other local area and felt that law enforcement was the best way they personally could do something about it. Some people see one problem while other people see a different set of problems, which is why there is such a vast array of law enforcement organizations. However, in the end law enforcement officers are doing what they can to help their community fix a problem. And no amount of “con’s†can ever outweigh the one “pro†of every workday personally doing something to help fix that particular problem. You might not see any problems, or at least you might not see how law enforcement does anything to help fix those problems. In my book though, I’m pretty dang glad there are those that do see a problem and do feel the responsibility of fixing it.
