The bullies from high school don't become cops generally speaking. They go on to become business people who torment their subordinates. Or they become some sort of semi-skilled labor depending on their IQ and family connections.
The people who become cops are actually more dangerous. They are the victims of the bullies, the ones who were picked on the most in high school. I've spoken to many cops over the years, and they inevitably have similar stories. One was highlighted on a TV show. He worked out in the Gym every single day. His explanation was he was skinny and got picked on in high school. Now look at him. He has the power, and is seeking revenge. This explains why they overreact so egregiously when someone says something to them that can be taken in the slightest disrespectful.
It's worse because they were angry as children, and dreamed, even fantasized about getting revenge. They didn't have the power then, now they do. Now they have the power and nobody is going to treat them like that again. Cops tend to be born from the tormented of the school bullies, not from the bullies themselves.
But you are right. They are deeply scarred and psychologically unstable, and unsuited to the job. But since they are picked by others who have the same problems, the system perpetuates itself. A cop who was tormented as a youth believes he is a good guy, doing a great job, and has fifteen years doing that job. He finds a younger version of himself. The same sort of look, the same sort of feeling about them. This guy would be a great cop, he understands what it's all about. Before long, the department is filled with people who were picked on a lot in high school, and you end up with people who overreact when faced with any sort of perceived disrespect or challenge to their authority.
In short. Now I have a badge and a gun, and nobody is going to do anything like that to me ever again.
That is why I said it was worse. A bully can from time to time realize how badly they have behaved. Not all of them certainly,but some will. A victim of the bullying who seeks revenge, they can't believe they behaved badly because they are acting from the best of intentions. They want to stop the bullies from fucking with someone else. They see themselves as the great protectors, and don't realize they have in fact become far worse than what they hated. Generally speaking, people do things because they believe they are justified, entitled, or have some special unique quality that allows them to do this.
Picture it in your mind. The chubby kid. He's getting picked on. The tall gangly kid with the growth spurt that causes uncoordinated actions? He's getting picked on. The one who didn't go out for football, or who wasn't very good at it? He is absolutely getting picked on. Watch the Breakfast club again for stereotypical examples of these types. Emilio Estevez and Molly Ringwald are the in crowd and early in the film they dismiss the others as losers. Later you learn Estevez had done something horrid to another student, and how did his Father view this bullying by his son? Normal teenaged horseplay. Molly was upset that the rules applied to her too.
Emilio's character would go to college on a wrestling scholarship, and view Law Enforcement as beneath him. To get the idea of the cop, take Anthony Michael Hall's character, and drop the IQ about thirty points. Not in sports, not one of the richies, and mocked incessantly by those of the in crowd. Or better yet, take the guy who Estevez taped up with Duct Tape. Because he would want revenge wouldn't he?
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