The only section of that page that might be relevant to what you just said was " police and military personnel, groups with more reason to deny past illegal drug use, were twice as likely to recant than the general population." You appear to be arguing that police are intrinsically more likely to lie, but this study doesn't support that, it actually supports the quote you are trying to refute.

"You appear to be arguing that police are intrinsically more likely to lie, but this study doesn't support that, it actually supports the quote you are trying to refute."

I actually wasn't arguing that cops are more intrinsically likely to lie, only that they are more likely to lie. Although I do also believe that they are probably more intrinsically likely to lie. Why? I think you're right that of the non-police population, many would lie if they became cops due to the extrinsic incentives to lie. At the same time though, people who aren't comfortable lying about their current/past drug use are effectively banned from becoming cops. So while the study might not prove that cops are more intrinsically likely to lie per se, the fact that there is a significant disparity suggests to me that it's highly likely that part of that disparity is due to differences in who decides to be a cop. And, if it is the case that some significant portion of that disparity is due to selection factors, which seems likely, then my it would be accurate to say that they are intrinsically more likely to lie.

Homosexuals in a homophobic culture are more likely to lie about sex. But it's entirely situational and tells us nothing about homosexuals in general.

Studies have also shown that high status people lie more; police are high status.

> police are high status

And ... that's pretty much the problem.

In the UK, policing is meant to be consensual, by the "people" for the people. The first police were intentionally recruited from lower classes to avoid the whole high-status issue. It's not a well-paid job. Police Dramas like "The Wire" in the US glamorise police work, where in the UK, we have "The Bill" which makes it look dull as hell...

Point of clarification: While many US television shows glamorize police work, "The Wire" is definitely not one of them.

"The Wire" shows a lot more of the police/political system trying to sweep things under the rug than anything else. There is even a large portion of one season dedicated to an officer falsifying evidence for his own personal obsession with a completely different case.

Are you saying they are high status because they lie or that you think they are high status so you would expect them to lie?