Monday 11 January 2021

Not for me

Sometimes I ask myself, what is the worst possible job I could have done? What would I have absolutely hated doing? What would I have been utterly unsuited for?

There are plenty of contenders, plenty of jobs where I would have been floundering desperately or totally humiliating myself or wondering why on earth I took the job. Or all three.

One thing I would hate to be right now is a police officer. They have a thankless job at the best of times, but in the midst of the pandemic they're being asked to do the impossible.

On top of all their existing tasks, they're expected to police all the new laws and restrictions and stop people from disobeying them. How on earth can they do that with a chronically under-funded police force and thousands of people determined to ignore all the restrictions and do whatever the hell they like?

But there are so many things that would stop me taking the job, however generous the salary. For example:

  • Enforcing laws I don't necessarily agree with, like possessing drugs or producing obscene publications or being drunk and disorderly
  • Facing violent opposition from bystanders like brick-throwing, kickings, or being pinned to the ground
  • The widespread hostility towards the police, based more on blind prejudice than what the police are actually doing
  • Being blamed for "heavy-handed" behaviour, when often the police are deliberately provoked by aggressive crowds
Of course the police can sometimes be their own worst enemies, picking on black people (and killing them), laying into peaceful demonstrators, stopping people for trivial offences, roughing up detainees and so on. But they do a very difficult job and have to contend with some extremely ugly situations.

Would I fancy joining the forces of law and order? Thanks but no thanks.

32 comments:

  1. My first ambition was to become an Indian Navy sailor and my myopia prevented that. The next one was to to join the Indian Army during the Emergency Commission period when while I was selected I was prevented from joining through some very effective emotional blackmail. I have had my share of working at two jobs which I loathed but eventually found my way and enjoyed every moment of it.

    I still wish that I had been either a sailor or a soldier. I too would not like to be a policeman though.

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    1. Ramana: I never fancied being a sailor or soldier. An airline pilot maybe, though it must be a very stressful and demanding job.

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  2. I would not fancy the police force - or service as I gather it is now laughingly called - for the same reason I would not have taken work at the criminal bar....no desire to mix with criminals all my working days. For the same reason I would not work in modern banking....

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    1. Fly: I wouldn't have been either a criminal lawyer or a banker either. At least a criminal lawyer does something useful and necessary, while a banker does nothing but shuffle money around.

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  3. It’s got to be one of the worst jobs on the planet. While I know there are a lot of good cops out there (and have known a few personally), there are also plenty of them who are awful. Unfortunately, I think it’s like the military and politics and attracts those who are power hungry.

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    1. Bijoux: I think you're right about it attracting the power hungry. I gather police in the States are quasi-military in the way they operate.

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  4. I actually applied for the Houston, Texas, police department about 50 years ago. They never got back in touch with me so I guess they didn't need me. I am SO glad I never got that call. Houston was, and is, the 4th largest US city.

    Not long after that, I DID get to join the US Navy. I had gone to recruiting offices of the Navy and the Air Force, but not the Army or Marines as the Vietnam War was still ongoing. The Navy had this neat program called nuclear power... and the rest is history.

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    1. Mike: So were you always in the Navy or did you move on to something else?

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    2. I was in the Navy for just under 9 years. The last 3 1/2 years I was an instructor at a Navy nuclear prototype in Idaho -- built there in the early days to be away from population centers. I went to work in commercial nuclear power as an operator, eventually getting a license to operate the reactor. Not long after that, I went to the training department where I spent the rest of my career, retiring early in 2007. I held a Senior Reactor Operator license most of that time. After I retired, they kept asking me to come back as a contractor to teach in the program for licensing reactor operators. My specialties were emergency procedures (in the classroom and simulator) and operating the simulator, though I taught a wide range of other topics as needed. I probably spent more time instructing in the simulator over the years than any of the other instructors.

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    3. Mike: That's an impressive range of skills and knowledge. And it sounds like you really enjoyed the job.

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  5. I have a friend who is a retired deputy now. During his active years his wife always had to wonder if today was the day he would not come home. I couldn't live like that either.

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    1. Linda: That possibility must be at the back of every spouse's mind. Especially in the US where so many people have guns.

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  6. Policemen face the worst time ever. Too many people view them do not trust them. Yes, there are some militaristic police, and need to be vetted before hiring.

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    1. Susan: I wouldn't trust the police at a demonstration. They do tend to get extremely rough if they feel under threat.

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  7. I would never like to work in a job that was highly regimented. I like creative freedom.

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    1. Jean: Me too. Especially if what you're being asked to do makes no sense whatever.

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  8. Policing--I would have avoided it at all costs.

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    1. Joanne: It must be more a gruelling job than a rewarding one, for sure.

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  9. Every job I ever held had aspects of it that I didn't like, some more than others, just as is true with living daily life. Working as I did for a number of years for myself, I was able to eliminate some undesirable, to me, aspects present in my profession when I worked for companies who had their requirements I was expected to meet.

    As for being employed in law enforcement, there are many activities in which policemen/women act and days throughout any given year when they're not involved in violence or faced with life and death decisions or enforcing senseless laws. There are also numerous laws I'm glad they're attempting to enforce, including citing idiots who run stop signs, drive recklessly or when fueled by alcohol and other drugs. I would not welcome working in locations where there was a lot of violence. I don't want a job where I might have to shoot someone though I am adept at using firearms, however I'm not tested with handguns. For those reasons I would not be a good candidate to become a police officer and would likely be miserable placed in many of their expected jobs. I was happiest working when I was working for myself which helped make performing some tasks I didn't particularly like tolerable and acceptable.

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    1. Joared: The police certainly have their uses, enforcing the sort of laws you mention. A society without a police force would be total anarchy. And yes, working for oneself avoids a lot of the annoyances that come from working with other people.

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  10. I'm too short for a lot of jobs - though I think height restrictions have changed in the police force since I was younger. I might have been useful in a back up role as I have a devious mind :-)
    Sx

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    1. Ms Scarlet: The height restrictions for police officers were scrapped as they were seen to be discriminatory. But you have to be at least 6 feet for a back-up admin role, lol.

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  11. There are so many jobs I would not like, ranging from working in a chicken processing factory to being a tax accountant!

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    1. Jenny: I wouldn't fancy those either. Especially since I'm a vegetarian and object to killing chickens in the first place.

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  12. I've never given this much thought. But the power hungry cops I've encountered over the years have not impressed me one whit. I distrust the police for many reasons which I won't get into here. Covering up for each other is part of the persona, witnessed recently in Nova Scotia with so many dead when the police knew waaaay ahead of time the perp was trouble as he was para-military. And don't get me started on the missing/murdered aboriginal women with "no one" accountable. We all know what that means.

    XO
    WWW

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    1. www: I think you're right about covering up for each other. And yes, the police can be oddly caught on the hop, like the shootings in Nova Scotia and also of course the Capitol rioting. How routinely police officers are never brought to trial for serious offences - there's "never enough evidence" for a conviction.

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  13. I thought about being a teacher at one point when I was in school and then I saw how bad the students and parents are to the teachers and thought better of it.

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    1. Mary: I wouldn't want to be a teacher either, for the same reason.

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  14. I do agree with you, Nick. The police service is something I have never considered, ever. And while I also agree with most of the statements in this post, I cannot make the general assumption that police officers "pick on and kill black people, attack peaceful demonstrators, or stop people for trivial offenses... " Of course, I am not naive enough to know these offenses have not occurred and may also continue, it is difficult to make such a generalization. There are many exemplary officers in their profession. And, there are also instances of others who abuse in different ways, for example politicians.

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    1. Beatrice: I do recognise that there are many decent, principled police officers out there. Unfortunately they get burdened with the bad behaviour of some of their colleagues - and the unpopular measures they have to carry out.

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  15. Not for any amount of money. Interestingly, cops score like sociopaths on a widely-used personality test called the MMPI. Which is probably why they are sometimes described as criminals with a badge. (I have known some good cops, and they would agree with me about many of their colleagues.)

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    1. Agent: Interesting that they come out as sociopaths. I guess too often they have to see people as criminals to be punished rather than vulnerable human beings with complex feelings and needs.

      There's a witty definition of a police force - one that catches more crooks than it employs.

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