Perks of working as a City/Municipal officer as opposed to being a Deputy..

[PEACE WARRIOR]

Evening men,


would just like some insight into the perks/disadvantages of working as a city cop versus being a deputy with a county sheriff's office..




thanks.

[mcsap]

THis can differ greatly. In some areas, a deputy IS the city/county cop. In my state, the Sheriffs are not even the police, they do courthouse security, prisoner transports and some warrant service.

City PD's tend to be busier with more shootings. stabbings, agg assaults etc. The suburban areas dont get as many of those type of calls and get more neighbor disputes, crashes and miscellaneous calls.

I would not want to work in the city, too much of the shootings/stabbings etc. That gets OLD fast.

[Menace]

Me and mscap have differing opinions. Me personally I would prefer and do prefer being a city cop. I have backup a minute away if I need it. Plus out here the outlying county gets MIGHTY desolate. I like the action anyway, keeps one up and awake.

[mcsap]

No problem Menace, you can have the big city, I'll take the "burbs".

[corporal716]

I kind of like deputy work myself. We had contract cities where we did all the things city cops do. Then we had unincorporated areas where we just hadled calls. All the traffic stuff was hadled by CHP.

I think with a Sheriff's Department you get to do more and have the oppertunity to learn more and become a better cop. It'ss almost like having a lot of careers all in one. You spend time in the jail learning what and who criminals are. Then you go to courts where you can learn what the DA wants and who to testify. When you done there you go to patrol where you learn to be a street cop. Then to detectives where you bring it altogether. Throw in some specialty jobs, work boat patrol, parks, or something and a 30 year career goes by fast.

[sbrad]

I AM the law

[Drew27k9]

Evening men,

Don't forget the fine ladies we have working out there also..

[SeVere]

I kind of like deputy work myself. We had contract cities where we did all the things city cops do. Then we had unincorporated areas where we just hadled calls. All the traffic stuff was hadled by CHP.

I think with a Sheriff's Department you get to do more and have the oppertunity to learn more and become a better cop. It'ss almost like having a lot of careers all in one. You spend time in the jail learning what and who criminals are. Then you go to courts where you can learn what the DA wants and who to testify. When you done there you go to patrol where you learn to be a street cop. Then to detectives where you bring it altogether. Throw in some specialty jobs, work boat patrol, parks, or something and a 30 year career goes by fast.

I don't want to take your reply out of context, so I will ask for clarification. I agree with your post, however, when you say become a better cop are you talking about self-improvement, or that you become a better law enforcement officer than a city officer because you have an opportunity to do "more," of which I also disagree (depends what city).

My city has FAR more opportunity than our County Sheriff's Office and I have worked for both.

[acreature]

Ha, Sheriff's Office personel here in NC do not have to work traffic accidents.... The Highway Patrol do those damned things. :D

Let's me concentrate on Dope work. Other than that, we're all the same.

[Deputy757]

Upon returning from overseas I had the opportunity to work for either a city pd or sheriff's office. I chose the SO, even though the pay was slightly less, and have not regretted it as of yet. One of the biggest perks for me is the fact that I can go anywhere in the county while the city pd is restricted (by policy, not law) to the city. I can respond to any of their calls at my own discretion while they have to be requested by us to assist us on ours. They are restricted by policy against engaging in a vehicle pursuit for just about any reason while we can pursue until the wheels come off (I know, there are times when it's prudent not to pursue but it's nice to have the ability to make that decision for yourself).
Of course, these are things that may only be issues in my county. I would speak to officers/deputies in the county you wish to work in. The only thing that is probably constant that I can think of is that city officers can enforce any type of law there is (federal/state/county & city ordinance) while deputies would not be able to enforce city ordinance.

[P01IC3M4N]

the bad thing about being a deputy around here, outside of the really urban counties, is when they get a new sheriff, they usually get new deputies. the sheriff will fire all the current deputies and hire all his friends. happens all the time. in the county i used to live in, the new sheriff fired like 13 people. sent them all cards right before Christmas saying they needed to be out by jan. 1.

most cities have have some sort of formal process to terminate employees.

[JD45]

I LOVE being a city cop. When I'm not being dispatched on calls I get bored. I try and keep myself busy with traffic enforcement in the 'down' time. But anytime a robbery, stabbing, shooting comes out....the lights and siren go on and I'm in seventh heaven.

The busier it is, the faster my day goes by. As long as I'm not stuck taking paper of every call..;)

[steelcityk9cop]

I think I have the best of both worlds..... I work for a large municipal department that boarders the city. Just enough pillaging to keep every day interesting but not so much that you get burnt out.

[Colonel]

The biggest difference around these parts is pay. Since most municiplaities have larger populations and larger budgets, city cops tend to be paid significantly more than deputies. We do the same job as deputies except we do not serve any paper (warrants, and civil papers).

[scott715us]

From friends who are deputies and from what I've seen, I prefer being in the city (although I'm at the airport) because of the great (and quick) back-up. The surrounding county SO's have quite a large area to patrol and in case of a traffic stop goin bad or a case where they need backup, the closest unit is several minutes away.

I know when bad calls come out, usually more than one is dispatched, but it seems there are too many horror stories I saw in the academy of highway patrol officers and deputies getting injured or killed when overcome by the assailant and help is several miles away.

I know it's not the same around the US, many SO's do the primary law enforcement and there are plenty around, but close to where I am, I guess if I were a deputy in one of the surrounding counties, I would be a little more weary of my surroundings. ;)