Move up?

[zmancarlvr]

My work ethic is such that I always work as hard as I can and always try to move to the next level to be as fully available and knowledgable as possible...

While working on a police force, say a good sized- suburban municipality...
1) what are the possibilities for an officer to keep moving and take full advantage of their abilities?
2) from any possibilities, what is the best way to go about moving up?

also on a sheriff's department (quite large department in IL)


The reason I ask is I will be eligible to bein my application process in the next year and I know that I am a workaholic and want to make sure that I benefit the team that I work for as much as possible.

Thank you.

-Z

[Charlie]

Well, there is no 'fool-proof' method that is going to guarantee that you will move up and be sucessful in ANY department for any number of reasons. I can only generalize in my answer to your questions:

-- Attitude and personal drive has a lot ot do with this issue. So does being ethical and maintaining your integrity too. I think these are some of key issues you have to have or maintain.

-- Whenever reasonably possible, I would seek out and participate in any beneficial training that is available. I am not just talking about the 'hands on' stuff either. A lot of important training comes in the form of classroom and book reading too. Physically maintaining the body is without a doubt important but your mind is equally, or even greater in my opinion, to maintain as well. You got to always maintain your knowledge and keep yourself updated.

-- Broadly speaking, sometimes, timing has a lot to do with one's advancement. i.e.: 'Being at the right place at the right time.' Often times you don't have control of this issue but in some cases, this is a factor concerning one's career.

I doubt I've covered all aspects of this issue if I understood correctly what your asking about. This is a broad subject in which any number of people could offer their advice in 'how to' be a successful LE officer. As you can see from what little I've written, being a workaholic doesn't necessarily equate to guarenteed success. In many cases, instead of 'working harder,' the better approach or answer is 'working smarter.' Try to construct your game plan to attain your goals with as mouch fore thought as you can. Obviously, the best time to do this is AFTER you get on board a LE agency somewhere and see first hand how things generally work in that particular agency. I think once your there and get some experience under your belt, how to exactly attain your goals should be much clearer than trying to plan for this before hand.

Hope this makes sense to you... Of course, there is likely a host of other wisdom and advice out there aside from my own but this is how I generally view this issue...
--
Charlie

[zmancarlvr]

Charlie- Thank you very much for the response... By workaholic I didn't necessarliy mean I work my *** off without working smartly, I would like to think I mix the two quite equally. I just try to benefit the team as much as possible. Thank you again for the advice!

-Z

[mcsap]

Our promotions are based on reading 3 large CJ textbooks , taking a written test and finally an oral interview. Of course , a persons work history/ habits are an issue as well.

[Citicop]

Z-

I applaud your enthusiasm, but worry about getting hired first. Once that happens, do your job to the best of your ability for a few years, and then worry about promotions.

Horse first, then cart.

Citicop.