It is in many respects a shit job. However, there is a lot of scope for progression and specialist training etc which can lead to reasonable pay and I suppose interesting work. I guess some people would get a kick out of busting some of us here when the new laws come in. The best approach when dealing with them is one of arse licking they don't like getting lip although winding them up can be fun but only if the circumstances are right. They do have to deal with a lot of scumbags and that is difficult but they bring a lot of hazzle upon themselves. In theory they are meant to keepers of the peace but in reality these days the guys on the beat anyway spend a lot of their time enforcing petty and often unpopular laws. This antagonises a lot of people and leads to loss of respect. Also factor in the political element of the force which is often close to the surface. At the end of the day a necessary evil I guess.