this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2026
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I think we're putting the cart before the horse here.
Assuming Harry is virtuous and good and brave and excellent at fighting dark wizards and helping people, wouldn't that be the perfect person to become a cop?
Those things qualify you for a whole slew of jobs, and Harry has plenty of other interests besides fighting evil wizards. It seems like very shallow, hackneyed writing to have a 14-year-old latch on to becoming a cop in a community that he didn't even know existed until he was 11*, one which he literally isn't permitted to participate in until he finishes boarding school.
Fair enough, but that argument also works against you:
Why become a cop? He has other interests than being a cop.
is equal to
Why not become a cop? He's interested in being a cop.
Surely you know cops don't eat sleep and breathe law enforcement too, right? As in they have other hobbies and interests? That goes for every job; a tailor has hobbies other than tailoring, and a taxi driver has other interests than driving.
What? Those aren't equivalent at all. My whole point is that it's bad writing and out of character for Harry to be interested in becoming a cop. Him becoming a cop is in no way equivalent to him pursuing literally anything else that would be more in-character.
Your second point has nothing to do with anything, and I don't know why you included it.
Only if you assume cops are there to help people. He'd do more good as a Batman/Dexter type.
Again, cart before horse.
You're asserting that there are no helpful cops, therefore Harry being helpful means he should not be a cop.
In reality, Harry being helpful should be a cop, because he could be in a position to help people.
Dexter/Batman don't do a lot of helping, they just crack skulls of people they perceive as bad. Ironically for your point, much like most IRL cops.
I asserted that?
Fair enough, it was an implication that you might not have intended. Add to it that 99% of Lemmites believe "ACAB," and you can imagine why I made that conclusion.
First off, ACAB.
Secondly, in a lot of stories Batman defeats city-wide or even nation- or global-wide threats. Kinda like Harry. And whatever Batman happens to do, because it's somehow justified, it ends up being good. Because he's the hero. Like Harry.
But like the earlier dude said Harry hasn't even got an understanding of the wider world. He would be much better at being a professor, because it also includes studying instead of just enforcing the rules.
Even if you imagine a perfect cop, he wouldn't be acting like Harry. Harry constantly breaks some rules or laws. Not what cops should be doing. Yeah you need some of the virtues Harry has but Harry is also inpatient and a large risk-taker. Neither of which are particularly good characteristics in cops except in media. A perfect cop would be someone slightly autistic about the rules and literally doesn't do whatever they feel like, but defers to the rules.
Which Harry most certainly doesn't.
Imagine if the magical world was (for this analogy) the US. Some who grew up in another country and hasn't even lived in the US, just went to a mostly American school, wants to be an American cop? Even when they go through a necessary training (and we know the wizarding world isn't big on credentials or experience) to become a cop, he'd still have very little understanding of the actual law with just some weeks of training, and wouldn't have grown up hearing about the constitution of the US let alone all the amendments to it.
This section is refuted by: He's 18, so "Duh" and "Nah," respectively.
A fair point, but essentially the opposite of what looks like most people's assertion about Harry becoming a cop, i.e. "He's good so he should not be a cop," and/or, "If some/most/all cops are bad, no one should become a cop." I find both of those asinine takes, hence my refuting them above.
TL;DR: Harry would be morally upstanding and a loose cannon (assuming he doesn't mature past 18), therefore a "good" cop, but not a "great" cop, and assuming his world is anything like ours, should absolutely be a cop to offset the bad.
Yes, immigrant cops have a disadvantage to face, but I disagree in your analogy and its application to Harry that it means they're disqualified from the position; that's a training issue that is far from impossible.
"Loose cannons" are never good as cops. No matter how much you delude yourself they're completely moral and even if that were 100% true they wouldn't be good cops. Cops aren't justice. They're law enforcement.
Someone applying their own morality all the time instead of laws should never ever be a cop. That's why ACAB.
A reminder that we're talking about choosing between lesser evils here. Would you rather an immoral by-the-book Auror/cop in league with Voldemort/Hitler or a moral loose cannon like Harry?
How do you feel about ICE arresting people for immigration offenses?
How do you feel about the DEA prosecuting people for cannabis?
There's nuance here, and you're pretending there isn't.
"No but you have to understand, All Cops might Be Bastards but they're could be way worse bastards!"
Wow what a magnificent argument.
Do you not understand that things are clearly immoral should lead to law enforcement refusing to enforce the laws. It doesn't mean they get to decide which laws to enforce or not, willy nilly, but if someone says "go an arrest every minority out there" they can say 'that's unconstitutional and I won't do it, you can fire me and then I'll sue you' or whatever it is you do there.
What you CAN'T do is become law enforcement and then use that authority while being completely arbitrary about laws.
The only reason I'm not a cop is because drugs are illegal (and some other laws but mainly those.)
You're putting the cart before the horse there.
If cops could be helpful to Harry, then why wouldn't he ride a time horse back in time to meet his grandaddy's prize-winning steed, a racehorse name you've likely not heard of. I hope you're happy with your assertions