US citizen?

[Demi]

Hey everyone!
I was wondering if it's necessary to be a US citizen to get a job as a police officer(or such) in US. I am Canadian with Russian backround. I've never worked in this field, but considering it as a future career.

Thanks,
Demi

[Altai]

Hi Demi and welcome to the forum. My name is Alex and I'm originally from Moscow, Russia. Just how much of a russian background do you have? Write me a PM if you wanna talk a bit more.

To answer your question: Yes, most ( if not all ) police departments in the United States require you to have a US citizenship.

Here are the NYPD requirements:
http://www.nypd2.org/html/recruit/requirements.html

And this is from the LAPD:

The City of Los Angeles requires that a Police Officer candidate be a United States citizen, or that a non-citizen be a permanent resident alien who, in accordance with the requirements of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), is eligible and has applied for citizenship.

During the selection process, each non-citizen will be required to prove that INS accepted his/her application for citizenship prior to the date the Police Officer written test was taken.

California State law requires that citizenship be granted within three years after the employment application date.

[Hightower]

For the time being, the majority of departments require that you are a US citizen. There are exceptions though. You would still be required to be a legal resident of the US though.

[Demi]

Thanks for reply. I just thought maybe if I am a Canadian citizen and speak Russian they could give me same slack . I heard FBI is demand of bilingual speaking :rolleyes:

[911]

Demi, the answer to your question is NO. You do not have to be a US citizen to be a cop here in the US.

[mcsap]

Demi, the answer to your question is NO. You do not have to be a US citizen to be a cop here in the US.

Not entirely true, most departments that I have visited , either in person or on the web require US citizenship. Obviously not all but still the majority require it.

[Scruit]

Every depts I have spoken with or visited (except one in Colorado mentioned in another thread) requires US Citizenship.

That one colorado dept will accpet anyone who has so much as applied for temporary resident status. That doesn't have sense to me, as the officer could be hired, trained, and then denied the immigration status he applied for... Then what?

[Scruit]

911 - Your blanket statement that you do not need to be a citizen is just as wrong as my earlier statement that you DO need to be a citizen to be a cop.

Would you agree that we should from now on say; "Police departments generally require require US Citizenship - but not all."

[nj50]

i belive all federal departments require citizenship.

[Bryan]

Demi,

I am not sure what you have explored in terms of your LEO Stat in the USA. I know of several people that have joined the US military as Canadian Citizens with no problem and returning to Canada after their service was up. I also know of a Co worker who worked for the RCMP that was accepted by the FBI for a a postion around Buffalo somewhere. He had numerous skills in various languages, If memory serves me correct, once he took the postion with the FBI, he had to renounce his Canadian Citizenship. He didnt take the postion because the salary was close to being the same, and Cost of living in that PART of the USA was rather high and it was going to take awhile for his wife to get a working visa. I think he was offered somewhere around 77k.

Anyways good luck with your endeavors

[911]

I guess it depends how you look at the question which was:
I was wondering if it's necessary to be a US citizen to get a job as a police officer(or such) in US.
The answer can't be "yes" as there are depts which do NOT require citizenship. The answer to the question is "no", it is not necessary to be a US citizen to get a job as a police officer in the US. So, mcsap, with respect, my statement is completely true. It's all semantics right?

I think Scruit has it, the vast majority of depts require citizenship. However, it is not only a single agency in CO, it's many of them, plus agencies in Alaska, Hawaii and elsewhere.