It attracts people who are not intelligent enough to make more money in more intellectually taxing professions, people who enjoy dangerous and risky situations, and people who like to be in positions of power.
Obviously its a generalization. It happens to be an accurate one.
And of course these 'intellectually taxing professions' (whatever that might mean) attract purely ethical and honest individuals, as well as persons of the highest integrity (i.e. lawyers, stockbrokers, politicians, bankers etc
).
General duties policing, that is, front line first response policing (the police the average joe interacts with) tends to have a lower calibre officer. Now lets just sit back and ask why?
Is it because of the mandatory tenure imposed on new and obviously less experienced police? Is it because those of the higher calibre progress into more complex and intellectually stimulating areas? Or is it because the flexibility of the front line rostering allows secondary employment? (which is particularly attractive to those who work in the trades). I'd say it's all these reasons and more.
In an organisation of near to 16,000 personnel, about half would constitute General Duties police. A further percentage of that breakdown would fit into your little categorisation.
Now if we consider the career paths outside of General Duties, which the other half have entered into (by no means exhaustive):
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State Crime Command - (Various specialist investigative units - Homicide, Terrorism, Fraud, Robbery and Serious Crime, Child Protection and Sex Offences, MEOCS, Drugs, Asian and other organised crime, etc)
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Prosecution Command
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Airwing
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Traffic Services
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Forensic Services
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Professional Standards
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Technical Services (surveillance, listening devices & other communications)
One would be hard pressed to argue that the vast majority of these specialist areas don't require some form of intellectual vigour. For instance, to be accredited as a fingerprint expert (which is recognised worldwide) takes 6 years to complete, prosecutors undertake advocacy against solicitors and barristers everyday. You categorise intelligence as a merely academic phenomena.
You discredit yourself when you make ridiculous generalisations based on little more than personal opinion. Your objectivity is vastly clouded by either an intrinsic dislike for police, a previous experience or your rampant libertarianism.