Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

My LEO is applying for detective (he's a patrolman) and I was was wondering if anyone here has experience making the transition. I am under the assumption that it will be less dangerous, less stressfull, and since he will have weekends off, a less time-consuming position. Of course, I am un-experienced and could be completely wrong. Any advise/tips/thoughts on the transition??

Blue,
I would say that most of your assumptions are correct. I went from a patrol-type position in a state police agency to an investigative role. During my time in the patrol side- I was on a rotating shift with some nights and some weekends. This was not a great situation for our family- although some people work the rotating shift with nights and weekends for decades and love it.
Since I was promoted to the investigative position, I have had almost all of my weekends off and very seldom have to work at night. The only exceptions to this are call outs for certain types of crimes, or special assignments.
The only part of your post that was not exactly correct was the stress level. Althought I love what I do now compared to before- there is a higher level of stress in certain ways. As an investigator you are investigating higher profile crime- the stakes are higher, and more people scrutinize your work. In a patrol position one can normally start a shift, write x number of citations, make x number of arrests, and go home and forget about it. If a patrol officer gets into anything too time consuming or complicated they will normally pass it off to investigations- not because they are not capable, but because patrol officers are supposed to patrol, not investigate. Anyway, in an investigative position, one case can go on for an extended period of time and it is not always as easy to leave certain types of investigations at work when you go home.
Overall, the jump from patrol to investigator or detective is highly positive in my opinion.

algonquin,

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. It's good to hear someone with actualy expierence rather than trying to base everything on an educated guess. Going to help my LEO write his application essay. :)