[DugFin]

Higher pay doesn't address the problem with cops. They pay cops VERY well in my city, and yet they are still in the news constantly with the same sort of antics. The problem is that the job of law enforcement is BORING. There's simply very little intellectual challenge to driving around all day looking for trouble. Beyond the occasional zen master, you're going to end up with primarily one general kind of person who can tolerate being in law enforcement, and it's not the sort of person who craves sophisticated intellectual stimulation.

[username223]

I've met some genuinely decent cops, e.g. state troopers, who probably make decent money and care enough to take a pay cut versus what they would make as tech middle management. Driving around issuing speeding tickets and occasionally shooting homeless guys isn't intellectual work, but convincing people who were abused by the last guy in your job that you're trying to make their lives better is tough. Would you be up to it?