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On a different tack however..(haha) I am somewhat amused by the crop of of people visiting this site,
that have dodgy backgrounds ( " I did some stuff, but i'm law abiding now" ) and whom want to become
law enforcement officers...? Go figure.
I wonder if anyone has ever undertaken any psychological research into why people (to differing degrees) with criminal history become so hell bent on becoming Cops. Do you think that they have
a different perception of what the uniform stands for - as compared to normal people?
Do they perceive the uniform as a means to commit criminal acts without the usual fear of being apprehended ?
Do they perceive cops as being criminals with sponsored clothing ?
Reading world news, it seems to be a common thread running through many societies.
Time to muse.
I think it is likely that many people today do whatever they like the majority of the time, especially younger people. They don't give much thought to what is legal or illegal, only to what their friends are doing and what seems like fun.
Fast forward a couple of years and they decide they'd like to pursue a career that tends not to hire people who behaved irresponsibly over an extended period of time, or showed a very significant lack of judgment a limited number of times, or even a single time.
Many of these people feel completely comfortable decrying the unfairness and the illogic of disqualifying police applicants for activities many of their friends engaged in regularly. They have a very difficult time recognizing their past behavior as irresponsible and lacking in good judgment because they and all of their friends engaged in it regularly. Their barometer is off; they see such behavior as normal and don't understand that other people, even in their teen-age years, were able to recognize hallucinogen usage as wrong, and were able to recognize shoplifting as wrong, and were able to recognize selling their parent's prescriptions was wrong, etc...
I don't believe children are born with any sort of moral compass. It must be instilled in them by their parents.
When it is not, they become used to doing whatever they want and whatever feels good. When they are later told that their past behavior is unacceptable they become indignant.