Okay, so let’s look at the metaphors of police dreams. Since 2014 I’ve been writing and publishing about police, detective, justice system metaphors on The Dreamwork Blog. Here is a post which highlights some key metaphors and creates a starting point to understand police metaphors & interpretations.

Police Officer – When a police officer shows up in a dream whatever was happening prior to their arrival changes. Police officers as a metaphor represent authority and the enforcement of the law. When the metaphor is positive, it is about the Higher Self taking authority over their lower nature (positive qualities such as Patience taking over more negative qualities such as anger). In this way the metaphor can be very positive. Many people who fear authority are actually fearing bad authority, those who have usurped power for themselves and exert their will over others regardless of who or how it hurts. A negative metaphor of an officer would be about fearing this type of negative authority.

Police Car – Cars in dreams are about the vehicles we use to get to where we want to go. Our True Self always wants to keep growing and changing and evolving, developing more skills and capacities all the way through life and maybe even into the next world. When we are driving our own car in a dream it is about having the drive, the inner initiative, to get to where the true self wants to go in an positive vision for the future. Driving a police car would be about having the drive & inner authority to get to where the self wants to go in life. A negative metaphor of a police car would be a symbol for the way others are so determined and so full of ego to get to where they want to go that they hurt others while doing it. People who love to be negative tend to think they are the authority over everyone around them. It’s like they make themselves into the police in their own mind and then they’ll push their way through to get anything they want. If the police car is sort of neutral in the dream it can just be a reminder of this principle without being positive or negative.

Police Helicopter – Air in a dream is about the future. There are four main elements and each have their own energy. Fire, Earth, Water and Air. Fire is about inspiration. Earth is about being grounded and strong. Water is about being flexible in relationships and life. Air is about envisioning and futurizing the reality the self wants. Futurizing is a word I just made up because it seems to fit here. Air in a dream is about potentialities for the future. So a vehicle which uses air to travel is about realizing the way to get to where you want to go is by first envisioning the positive future for yourself. Then you can go there. A police helicopter means to get to your positive future, to bring out your positive qualities, to get to the next stage of growth and wellness and healing, you will have to deal with the metaphoric police. You will have to deal with your own inner authority. Some might call it intuition or voice of reason or consciousness. Police are symbols of inner authority when they show up in dreams and so a police helicopter is about flying to your positive self by realizing the importance of listening to your own inner guidance.

Handcuffs – Hands in dreams are an important symbol. One of the reasons they are important is because they are a part of the human body. To dream about the body is to dream about the self, the identity, the life of the dreamer. One way I tend to think about this is to think of a dream about the body as a symbol of the soul of the dreamer. The human frame is the vehicle through which the soul interacts with the physical realms. When there is a dream of the body I usually tend to think it means something significant will be happening in the life and experience of the dreamer. Something will happen that they can experience with their 5 senses. Something will happen in the physical world which will mirror the message of the metaphor. That is just one of many ways to look at this metaphor. So hands specifically are about the things we hold on to in life, and also about the skills we have and the tasks we complete day to day. The metaphor of being handcuffed is about the skills, talents, tasks being frozen, stopped. It’s about not being able to hold valuables. So handcuffs in dreams are a very important symbol for the self being stunted, skills being stopped. How to flip this to positive then? Here’s how. When handcuffs show up in a dream or in real life it is a sign that it is the time to develop Patience. With patience discomfort can be endured. With Patience, irritation can be squelched. With Patience, frustration can be eased. So even though handcuffs are temporarily negative feeling, in reality they are a perfect tool to help develop a heck of a lot of Patience.

Police Gun – What is a gun? In real life a gun is a tool people use to shoot others down. It is a tool used to stop people in their tracks. As a metaphor in a dream, it is a symbol for the way people can shoot others down with their negativity, harsh words, name-calling, criticizing, etc. When a police officer is yielding a gun in a dream it is a metaphor for the way officers can use their power to stop others with their criticisms. This is a complex metaphor because when an officer uses a gun it can be positive or it can be negative but that is the case with every metaphor. There are positives and negatives. The positive use of power with a gun or with criticisms is to stop people who are harming or hurting others and officers have the authority to do that. The negative use of power with a gun metaphorically is to use criticisms to control others and to elicit unnecessary or unwarranted fear. When a police shoots a person in a dream and the dream is positive it is a metaphor for the way our positive inner authority can overpower any negatives. But when an officer shoots a person in a dream and it is unjustified or unlawful then it is a metaphor for how negative authority in the world uses their power to control others so they can stay on top.