Originally Posted by
docmonkey
Do you seriously think it's better for society to have the best and the brightest applicants work as FAMs rather than in public service as real police officers who actually confront criminals, serve citizens and interact with the public, improving safety in measurable ways?
It depends. It's like insurance - you measure risk based on 1) frequency and 2) severity.
A hail storm is more frequent than a hurricane, but a hurricane has it beat hands down for severity.
So, to your cop point, most police work is very frequent but not severe (most LE work is geared toward misdemeanors, especially when you consider than they are fund raisers for the locality, whereas it costs money to prosecute felonies, along with imprisonment, etc.).
FAMs are for the ultimate felony - mass murder. Not very frequent, but very severe. And the nation has a vested interest in making sure its airspace is secure.
So, all told, the answer is "it depends."
