It's not a question that has the same significance, if you were to ask it of a librarian, an accountant, a secretary, or a salesperson. It's a question with special significance, with consequences outside of the normal realm of the workplace.
Was it to drive fast cars?
Fire a taser?
Ponce about in a uniform and feel self-important?
I've known officers who seemed to aim for each of those. But ask one in a recorded interview, and "helping people" will always crop up somewhere.
I'm not blowing my own trumpet here - I joined because it looked like an interesting job with better conditions on a higher salary than I had before.
And yet... that "helping people" part of the job description hastened my hand when filling in the application form. I still tell people that's a large part of the attraction of the job, and it is. I feel disappointed if I go home at the end of a shift and I don't have a feeling of having helped someone.
I rather feel that that feeling is the closest I ever come to the satisfaction of being a real copper.
And yet...
I put out the scared little old lady who's barricaded herself inside her house, and no-one offers up.
I put out the rogue trader who's promised to return to his victim at a certain time to collect the rest of his paycheque for doing the square root of fuck all and no-one offers up.
I put out the 12 year old boy, too scared to walk past the bigger boys to get home and hiding in the bushes in the park and no-one offers up.
I put out the stolen Mercedes SLK passing from a neighbouring force into our our area and you all drop your paperwork and leap into your poxy diesel Astras, hoping for an exciting pursuit.
You should be ashamed of yourselves.
I hope to join, one day, and I will never ever forget this.
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