Anyone here serve as a police officer?

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I have had a number of difficulties, but I cannot really be sure how much is due to asperger's and how much is just what i would have been like anyway. Maybe the asperger's is just masking natural incompetence, i cant tell. However, the main problems have been these:

1. I tend to believe what I am told and I cannot instictively judge when I am being lied to. I often take things at face value. This can be a disadvantage as a cop, I have found.

2. I really dislike social interaction and I hate meeting strangers and I cannot do small talk, or what is known in the job as 'hat and chat.' I prefer to work alone or with one other colleague that I know well.

3. I am very badly organised, easily distracted and struggle with being able to focus or make good decisions in noisy/stressful environments. The sensory over stimulation of a long blue light drive, especially when you know you might be getting a good kicking on your arrival at scene, can be exhausting. And yes, I've had a few kickings and its upsetting and can be really frightening even with the adrenalin helping you to cope. Sometimes I want to drive away from these situations, not towards them. To have people shouting at you and wanting to do you harm is overwhelming sometimes, but even stronger emotions are shame and guilt for not doing your job. Plus the desire to do the right thing. So you knuckle down and plough on even when every instinct tells you to run away.

There are other problems but these are some of the main ones. HOWEVER: I'm actually quite good at being able to empathise with individual victims of crime and i believe I'm good at getting their feelings down on paper. I have very good literacy skills and, given the right (ie quiet and uninterrupted) environment, I believe I'm actually pretty effective at taking statements from people.

It was noted at training school 27 years ago that I was borderline police material and unlikely to be very good. I have muddled through, one way or another. Sometimes I have done good work and sometimes it has been very poor. I drifted into the job accidentally as a fall back option to my preferred career choice (which i think i would have been even worse at). So, overall, I cannot complain, my employers have been good to me considering how poor has been the return on their investment.

For almost all my service I have been a response officer and not part of a specialist department. In my opinion, having aspergers has been a problem although it is only relatively recently that I have gained an insight into why I have struggled, that is my diagnosis helped to explain things.

Overall, I don't think being a police officer is an ideal career choice for someone with aspergers.

I once had a retired Montreal police officer who I worked with tell me I would make an excellent cop. I told him "are you nuts? I am shy, a total pushover and would never be able to point a gun at anyone let alone arrest them plus I have no physical strength". He insisted that it would not be an obstacle as "they train you very well". Looking back years later, I now realize he was REALLY on to something. I actually seem to get along great with police and similar authority figures even though I have an irrational fear of authority.

Thanks for all the kind words and support, much appreciated. Not long to go now!!