I went to a festival with someone from the police - in his late twenties, early thirties if I remember well. He was helping with the "hard side of life" cases, I guess, I don't know what to call it.
A weird blend, of that and going to psytrance festival and getting loaded with drugs in, imo, not always very respectful ways (- though, I would not say he abused them, just getting loaded at the festival on his Holliday time). He knew this was not well regarded in his profession, we have not discussed how he saw legislation really but I can guess ... He was a very nice guy really, on the return we were approached by Evangelist (nice persons as well, really) but we got bored when they started talking about Jesus and trip reporting their mystical experience saying stuff like "It's not like yoga, that's not right ... It's not like a drug, it lasts for your whole life". We were on a beautiful beach and he just went a bit away and loaded his pipe, smoked some Changa and went on raving about the true beauty of life. I don't like the move but we laughed our ass off really, it was too much! The Evangelists were traumatized.
Still, I was a bit surprised because I thought it had this Catholic desire to help people, or a benevolence that transpired in what he was doing. He said however, he might not do this job for all his life, and might go on the more "eco"-route.
I have also met a policeman at my Aunt's, and I didn't know until later. He was speaking about how the election was cheated and the use of the media in the whole thing was disgusting (which it was). He was a bit ecstatic about the idea that a top-European country like ours could have so much power only by stopping to work, and we could change things like that, with a benevolent massive movement of people. He loved the city by night and was about to graduate a special bike license so he could wander the street under the neon's light.
I have not asked him about drugs but I would say he would not have been against cannabis legalization or the decriminalization of some other substances. He was a bit of the "cool dad", into modernity and stuff.
I don't really know how they saw their role in society. I would venture to say they were perfectly aware that they were working for shitty people. Seeing a friend that is going to the army soon, I can't help but think there is a sort of fantasy driving the Law Enforcement People, a strange sense of duty not always blind but still needing to be fulfilled even if the context of it all seems totally strange.