As for the personality existing before or after the hiring process, I found this [Sorry about the formatting.]:
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“What has been found, however, is that over time, and in response to the job’s demands, revelations and perspectives, a distinct personality does form within most of the otherwise unique individuals engaged in policing. What Jerome Skolnick describes as the police working personality is what many people, and police themselves, often describe as the police personality. The working personality is characterized as:
distrustful of outsiders
cynical
conservative (not necessarily politically, but rather resistant to change)
suspicious
pessimistic
pragmatic
prejudicial
and holding other widely-shared attitudes about and beyond the mainstream view. (ref. 7 & 8)
Other researchers in the police personality field generally agree with Skolnick’s analysis, citing additional traits of the working personality as conventionality and distrust of the unusual, with a good policeman suspecting evil wherever he goes. (ref. 9)
Interestingly, a more in depth reading of many of these researchers, particularly Skolnick, seems to reveal a bias against the development and existence of this working personality and concern over its potential contribution to individual and systemic law enforcement abuses of power. There is some understanding of how the working personality develops and why, and even acknowledges that it enhances the effectiveness of officers as they do their job and is a product of occupational socialization that creates and nurtures it.”
But I’ve even seen it myself, personally. I’ve seen the personality changes in people I had known before and after they began working in LE.
IMO, it’s a form of PTSD. Every day, these cops deal with the very worst of society. They see death (all too often, very ugly and horrible death), abuse, horribly mangled bodies/trauma, mutilations, etc. on a fairly regular basis. They regularly see things in their jobs that most people will NEVER see in their lifetimes. They see the darkest and most malicious evil…most people cannot even begin to comprehend what they see.
They are physically and verbally abused and personally threatened on a regular basis. In some regions, they are specifically targeted by some of the most dangerous criminals in the world. They have to make quick, life-altering decisions in highly stressful situations. Day after day after day of this will most definitely change a lot of people.
So yes, I’m very convinced that it’s the job that changes them. If there is someone with borderline personality/psychological issues going in, it makes it even more volatile and dangerous.
