If the role changes the person, how does it do that? What pressures do police face from the state, society, and capitalism in general that makes them into a worse person?
The key to determining how a police force will corrupt and crumble rests on one principle. Who the police are protecting and serving. In a capitalist system, the police exist to serve capital, which means suppressing the proletariat and proletariat action. I.e strike breaking, arresting leaders, assassinations, blackmail, harassment, fueling a minority based prison industrial system, and so on.
This type of “policing” will attract usually very degenerate candidates. BUT even those that join with high hopes to change the system or be righteous, those people are assassinated, snubbed for promotion, and pushed out. Creating a cesspit of degeneracy the rewards those that accept and support it, and “removes” those that don’t.
So what you’re left with is a system of survival of the fittest of the most sycophantic, psychopathic, evil, racist, people who climb the ranks and succeed; and where normal people are forced to shut up and follow, or be removed and pushed aside.
Not to mention the policing system in America is extremely fueled by nepotism as there is no oversight. Do you think a father who is a Sheriff will punish his lieutenant son for shooting an unarmed man? No, they’ll craft a good getaway story for then instead.
To answer your post title: yes and yes. Is it circular logic? Also yes.
Imagine: your job is to protect capital and property against common people, you are given money for it and a gun (with license to kill), as well as legal impunity. Not to mention various other perks. What sort of people will survive and thrive in this environment? What sort of people are attracted to that power?
There are many stories of ‘good people’ who become cops and what usually happens is they are socially ostracized until they quit. Or they shut up and enable it. Or they may get forcibly committed to a mental institution. Or they may get killed in a ‘friendly fire’ incident. Or best case, they go full terminator like Chris Dorner and try to take out a few pigs too.
I’m sure there are others who can answer more in depth, but to me it is such an obvious fact that I’m having trouble to explain further at the moment.
To add on the part of good people who become cops, a lot of times POC who become cops face a lot of racism and many of them are also ostracized until they quit
Police started out as slave catchers I doubt much else needs to be said
I work closely with some district cops in the city, mainly asking them to do stuff like welfare checks and tracing people that seem to be lost. I chat with them sometimes and they seem like decent people.
But they are district cops who do just that: minor stuff. They also don’t really like the actual cops. I think the role of an actual police agent is different and you need to 1) have a certain mindset for it and 2) it will only further push you into that mindset.
I think he’s an anarchist or just a generic “leftist” now, but I found this video by That Dang Dad (a former cop) informative.
