I'm an Army veteran who wants to be a police officer

[justind000]

Hello,

I'm about to submit my resume to the local police department (Palm Springs, CA), but wanted to get someone else's opinion first on my chances. I've considered waiting a month or two while I brush up on my Spanish. I speak Korean and a little Tagalog, but in California Spanish is the important one. I have no criminal history not even a traffic ticket, no drug use or alcohol abuse either.

A little about me: I recently got out of the Army after 6 years. I was MI by training, but the year I spent in Iraq I worked as an MP. I have a lot of experience in firearms and first aid, everything you would expect from a former soldier I suppose. I worked in a military prison for most of the time I was there. I graduated in the top 10% from the Army Professional Leadership Development Course. The only thing that doesn't look good about my army experience is that I was only a specialist. If you are familiar with the promotion system, I went to the promotion board as soon as I was eligible and had around 650 points. I wasn’t promoted because my job was going away and there were no promotions at all, for anyone, for almost 3 years.

I almost have an AS in Linguistics, nothing relevant to law enforcement or criminal justice though.

The application process here is to submit an application form to the city hall and wait for a call back. Would it be an annoyance to show up at the department or give them a call and ask to speak to someone about being hired? It seems very impersonal to me, I'd rather take a resume to the station.

[Ironhead]

You sound like a very reasonable candidate. Don't worry about the lack of a CJ degree.

Good luck to you and let us know how it goes.

I was in the Marines from 84-88 and I wanted to say "Thanks for serving"

[flcpd110]

You almost have a AS in Linguistics and you don't think its relevant to LE? Last time I checked Departments around here you get preference because you are multi lingual. If I were you I would use that to my advantage to get more money WHEN you get hired.

[Valor55]

I don't see any problem whatsoever with what you've posted.

Get yourself a Police Officer Examination study guide from the book store. They will give you a very good general idea of what to expect during the process. They also have practice tests you should take.

Don't worry about not knowing about CJ. It doesn't matter what you know when you get hired, they will teach you what they want you to know during training.

[North Patrol]

Have you ever thought of going Federal? Nothing against the Local Departments (I was a street cop first). Just the Federal side tends to pay a little better and to be honest we need good Agents.

Check out the CBP.gov web site and look at the Border Patrol section. Just a thought.