On being a police officer

not trying to offend... just a buddy showed me this once and I thought it was funny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QgctZDpHSQ

It can't hurt to try. I deal with the police quite a bit at work and when I was towing I dealt with several different departments on Long Island. Most of the officers I met are just regular people doing a job that has to be done. Many that I have spoken with didn't plan on going into police work, but found it to be a rewarding job where the benefits outweighed sometimes crappy hours.

Ahem.... chicks dig cops. Just sayin'...

I have friends in law enforcement. It's nice when blistering through the mountains on a motorcycle to have diplomatic immunity.

One guy started in a very small town after two years of Police Science at a Community College. When a town hires, they hire from within. He was picked up by a larger town (his dream job), preferrable to hiring someone off the street. He's a bicycle cop and loves it. You can cover a lot of ground in a shift, get into places a car is obvious and it's quiet. He rolled up between two guys smoking a joint once, put his front tire right between them. Oops.

If you're even considering, do it. Don't wait for old age and say,"Well I shoulda ...."

A local town's policy on police pay is your retirement is based on your last three year's of pay (not base pay). So when you're about to retire they bone you up with overtime making your retirement larger than your base pay. Everyone knows when it's time to retire it's their turn. Part of the unspoken diplomatic immunity and beenies of the job.

Money is nothing. I took a cut of $16,000 a year to get the job I have.

It's a long life when you hate to get up in the morning.

Good luck.

Dan

Someone has to say it. FORENSIC. With an F.

I have never understood why anyone in their right mind would want to be a police officer, so if it is calling to you, do it. Not many people can hack that job and we desperately need good officers out there.

pinchvalve wrote: Someone has to say it. FORENSIC. With an F.

d'oh! Thanks...I fixed that in my opening post. I know better...just a fonetic slip of the phingers, I suppose.

Thanks, though...
Clem

Thanks for all the discussion folks!

So, after input here and a conversation with a friend who is a deputy for the county, I've decided I will apply for this job. Seems the real question is if they would hire me and pay for the academy...if they would, it sounds like it would be great. The friend says if I had been through the academy, I'd be a shoo-in.

So...here's more of a job application question for all.

On an application when it says "May we contact your current employer" is it really ok to say no? The real reason is I don't really want my current employer to know I'm looking. Or should I just bite the bullet and say they can contact the current employer and deal with the possible fallout?

Thanks,
Clem

I would hope there would be room in the process for more than a simple ("yes you can / no you can't") toggle: for example, "I would be happy to provide a link to my current employer, but only at a later stage if it looks like this application is really going somewhere. I want to be sure I don't cause my current employer any unnecessary anxiety, because they have treated me well and I want to reciprocate." That ought to fly with people who think, as opposed to just process forms. But this IS a municipal bureaucracy, so who knows.

Good luck, BTW!

ClemSparks wrote: I'm NOT interested in it because I have some need to assert power. In fact...that might possibly be a shortcoming for me in such a position.

As soon as I read this, my first thought was that you've definitely got the makings to be the type of police officer I'd respect. Lots of people feel the need to assert power. The fact that you're aware of it puts you way ahead of the curve in my opinion.

Best of luck to you.

ClemSparks wrote: So...here's more of a job application question for all. On an application when it says "May we contact your current employer" is it *really* ok to say no? The real reason is I don't really want my current employer to know I'm looking. Or should I just bite the bullet and say they can contact the current employer and deal with the possible fallout? Thanks, Clem

I am surprised that that is optional for the police dept. I also don't know that I'd worry to much about it, as I don't think they would waste time looking into the backgrounds of people they weren't interested in.

What a cop thread and not one obligatory Super Troopers hotlink? We'll fix that....

I know nothing about being a cop but while I've read that while the yearly salary might not be the best the pensions are quite nice. Might be something to think about. Security in your golden years is a good thing.

ClemSparks wrote: I have an engineering degree. I'm a smart guy, and I know it...but I don't have a background in law enforcement type stuff. I'm 6' tall and 200 lbs. I'm soft, but I don't foresee that beign a major issue for long (I could be wrong). The ONLY thing that comes up on a background search is a solitary speeding ticket from 1996...I think I'm good in that respect.

The engineering degree is actually a bonus. It's a valuable skill that other applicants don't have. I applied for the PD a few years back and they really liked people coming in with technical or liberal arts degrees. Those people can analyze and write. A criminal justice major can be a mark against you. It means you'll need to unlearn everything you thought you knew before they can train you to do it their way. Other degrees, you're a blank slate for PD work, with an extra rounding of skills.

Just be sure to train for the physical test before you have to take it. Build up your running endurance, and practice jumping over the wall. Chances are, you can find a highschool with the actual obstacle course at it.

ClemSparks wrote: On an application when it says "May we contact your current employer" is it *really* ok to say no? The real reason is I don't really want my current employer to know I'm looking. Or should I just bite the bullet and say they can contact the current employer and deal with the possible fallout?

Can you mark it as "Yes" but with a note that you'd prefer not since they don't know you're looking? Or maybe preempt it and tell your employer that you're looking into the PD, but inform them that's a special thing and that you're not really hunting for another job. That being a LEO is a special and unique life opportunity.

ClemSparks wrote: In reply to wbjones: You're wrong. Not trying to be untactful...but the starting pay listed for the officer position is within about 10% of what I make now. And that's not necessarily where I would have to start. I hope "project manager engineer" doesn't sound like anything other than "guy with a degree sitting in an office not being paid well enough."

Yeah the salary differentiation between engineering and the national average isn't what it used to be.

FlightService wrote:

ClemSparks wrote: In reply to wbjones: You're wrong. Not trying to be untactful...but the starting pay listed for the officer position is within about 10% of what I make now. And that's not necessarily where I would have to start. I hope "project manager engineer" doesn't sound like anything other than "guy with a degree sitting in an office not being paid well enough."

Yeah the salary differentiation between engineering and the national average isn't what it used to be.

Up until the early 20th century, engineering was the highest paid profession in the US! They blew it by creating technical names for mere minions. A garbage man is now a waste disposal engineer or some BS. Now people want to grow up to be doctors and cringe lawyers . They don't even take vector calculus. Bunch of useless saps... Did doctors get us to the moon and back?

YaNi wrote:

FlightService wrote: Yeah the salary differentiation between engineering and the national average isn't what it used to be.

Up until the early 20th century, engineering was the highest paid profession in the US! They blew it by creating technical names for mere minions. A garbage man is now a waste disposal engineer or some BS. Now people want to grow up to be doctors and *cringe* lawyers . They don't even take vector calculus. Bunch of useless saps... Did doctors get us to the moon and back?

We did it to ourselves. It wasn't creative names - it was undercutting each other to win bids. There is only enough money left in most projects for one or two smart guys and then a whole bunch of $30k students or a team outsourced from the Ukraine. I left some very cool, extremely challenging work in factory automation & instrumentation that had me working out of a cheap hotel room for months on end w/o enough money to fly home on weekends. It barely paid my mortgage on a $120k house.

I became a "software engineer" working on mundane business problems in an air conditioned office and doubled my income in one day. It is, IMO, one of the great tragedies of this country that rewarding, challenging technical work is valueless today. I'm not sure we could go back to the moon right now without the help of engineers from Banglore.

As it turns out - Lawyers and Dentists & Doctors were smart enough to price fix and enjoy a comfortable profit margin for the work they do.

YaNi wrote: Did doctors get us to the moon and back?

Why yes, yes they did!

Well, since we're on the subject of professional pride, most of us on this board would agree that German engineering is usually pretty good. In Germany (I assume this remains as true now as it was in the past) "Engineer" is an honorific title like "Doctor" or "Professor."

Of course, being Germans, they then pile it on by letting you stack your titles, as in "Herr Engineer Professor Doctor Kurt Nallinger," or whatever, but hey – if you're a qualified engineer they figure that (a) you should be entitled to point it out and (b) people who aren't should take notice.

Hard to argue with.

Stealthtercel wrote: ......but hey – if you're a qualified engineer they figure that (a) you should be entitled to point it out and (b) people who aren't should take notice. Hard to argue with.

^This should be the goal of both LEO's and society-at-large.

Sadly, it isn't.

Stealthtercel wrote: Well, since we're on the subject of professional pride, most of us on this board would agree that German engineering is usually pretty good. In Germany (I assume this remains as true now as it was in the past) "Engineer" is an honorific title like "Doctor" or "Professor." Of course, being Germans, they then pile it on by letting you stack your titles, as in "Herr Engineer Professor Doctor Kurt Nallinger," or whatever, but hey – if you're a qualified engineer they figure that (a) you should be entitled to point it out and (b) people who aren't should take notice. Hard to argue with.

I wouldn't agree. Germans are no better than anyone else, based on country. Italians have the same honorary title, btw.

I call myself an engineer, but can't CALL myself one unless I pass the PE. And passing the PE will not change my experience.

Engineering is about what is between your ears, not what country you are from.

Sorry about the drift. Hope it works out for your Clem.

Eric

Taiden wrote: Quick question for OP: If you see me sideways in my father's 97 R package full lock bouncing off the rev limiter in second gear right past your favorite stereotypical donut joint. Do you: a) give me a big thumbs up as I pass b) flash your lights/siren to scare me and then laugh at my freshly stained boxers c) chase me, and when i kindly pull over, taze me while I yell "DONT TAZE ME BRO" d) call in for backup and then use five cruisers to issue one ticket e) pull me over and ask "Can I try??"

I'd like to think it would be either a), or b) or e). Special emphasis to b). Because those have be the choices of the police I learned something from.

Good Luck!

Clem, come clean. You just want to drive a P71 every day and not have to pay for it. They haven't gotten below your $1000 threshold yet.

psteav wrote: Clem, come clean. You just want to drive a P71 every day and not have to pay for it. They haven't gotten below your $1000 threshold yet.

Haha...I had actually intended to come clean before being called on it. I'll admit...the thought of being paid to drive a cop car is appealing ;).

About the "do I tell them they can contact my employer(s)" question: I'm just going to say yes. It can't really hurt. If they are interested in me enough to want to call employers...I don't want that to hold anything up.

Clem

YaNi wrote: Did doctors get us to the moon and back?

I thought Hollywood set builders got us "to the moon and back"

FlightService wrote: Yeah the salary differentiation between engineering and the national average isn't what it used to be.

Makes you wonder why you went to a tech college with no women and studied hard, doesn't it? If I was going to do it over again, business college in a sunny state for this kid. Doesn't make a damn bit of difference salary-wise, apparently.

Clem, very interested to see how things turn out, I definitely say you go for if you think its something you'd enjoy!