As opposed to what? I mean, I like the idea of marketing to a peacenik, community minded, compassionate, etc person, but those are the least likely people to get a tough and sometimes shitty job where your life is on the line and you deal with humanity's worst people often at their worst. The types you are talking about would fall into social and charitable work. Personally, I wouldn't last a day as a cop.

A lot of that "honor" marketing is to attract the kinds of people who would work those jobs. These strategies work on low educated types or types who are comfortable with shooting, fighting, etc or types who just want well paid public-sector pension jobs and will deal with it.

That said, of course there are lots of good cops out there who don't necessarily buy into the macho stuff, but at the end of the day, you better be prepared to do violence. How comfortable would a liberal guy who never had been in a fight be as a cop? Or a 100lbs woman? Or someone who locks up under pressure? Or someone who is a bookworm and has zero physical skills? You can't just wish for society's finest to take a job that you and I would never do. I don't see you quitting your cush white collar job to reform the police department.