How did you decide??

[armydiver]

Hello,
I recently returned from Afghanistan and will be ETS'ing from the Army within the next 60 days. I've been evaluating different options as far as agency types. How did you decide which to go with? I've been leaning toward the federal side but I'm not too keen on the idea of being assigned and relocated wherever they deem me useful. I'd like to have more of a say in my location. I just thought I would ask the officers here how you came to your decision to work for PD, SO, where, so on and so forth. I'll be moving to southern Florida when I get out and would like to remain in the area. Any suggestions or things to look for are greatly appreciated. Any current federal agents with suggestions or general input on the work would also be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

[mcsap]

Florida is one of the FEW states that gives allowance for military MP certification so you can skip the police academy and go right into FTO.

If you are an MP, that is a NICE perk.

My state gives no allowance for any kind of military certification.

[armydiver]

Sadly, no, I'm not an MP. I'm infantry. Would have been nice.

[Cat_Doc]

I had been a law enforcement specialist in the USAF and fell in love with the job description. I ETS'd back to Mesa, Arizona and began flooding the LE market. Jimmy Carter was president at the time and the ecomony was totally f'd up. I got a job working at the Arizona State Prison, while I tested with multiple agencies.

The bottom line was that I accepted an offer with the first agency that offered me a job, and I stayed with them for the next twenty years.

It was not so much WHICH agency at that time, it was the idea of getting on the streets. (Mesa P.D. offered me a job a couple of weeks after I got hired on, but I turned them down after giving my word I would be loyal if hired to the agency that took a chance on me.)

[retdetsgt]

I was tired of selling cars and went into city civil service to see what they hiring for. All openings required prior experience, training or education except being a cop or a fireman. I hate ladders....

Seriously, I didn't even know if I wanted to be cop or not, just thought I'd give it a try. I tried it for 28 years.....:D

I made a huge mistake in that I used my veteran's points on my initial exam. I ended up with a final score of 103 out of 100. Unless you're disabled, you can only use veterans points once here. I wished I'd have saved it for a later promotional exam where it was much more competitive. Using them initially was a waste, I would have been hired the same day anyway.

By the way, welcome back and thank you!

[Cat_Doc]

By the way, welcome back and thank you!

Ditto on that. Thank you for your service and sacrifices.

[armydiver]

Thanks for the kind words. I am authorized disability due to injuries I recived and the subsequent surgeries. I'm still perfectly capable of performing my duties. Will this hurt me in any way when applying? Do you think that with as competetive as it is to get the job I'd be better to use my points in the beginning or should I hold on to them?

[pac201]

ditto on that. Thank you for your service and sacrifices.

+ 1 !!!

[retdetsgt]

Thanks for the kind words. I am authorized disability due to injuries I recived and the subsequent surgeries. I'm still perfectly capable of performing my duties. Will this hurt me in any way when applying? Do you think that with as competetive as it is to get the job I'd be better to use my points in the beginning or should I hold on to them?

We had a couple of cops who were deemed disabled by the military, but had full careers. It's just a matter of being able to do the physical agility exam. The exception might be something like a bad back or knee injury. Those will always get aggravated on the job.

One cop was 100% disabled because he had a belly full of shrapnel from Vietnam. I don't know what the extent of the other. Both had slam dunks on promotional exams because they got 10 points on every exam. They deserved it, IMO.

As I said, in Oregon, disabled vets get 10 points and can use them over and over. Non disabled get 5 points they can only use once. I have no idea what Florida does....

[phantasm]

NYPD was the first department to call me.

[paternoster2012]

It seems if you want to do "real" police work, you should stick to local or state agencies.
The nice thing about the feds is you can take your pensions and time-in-grade anywhere in the US.

[BP348]

State & Local will be a faster process, I think.

If you don't want to move then federal is probably not for you. I don't know of any federal agencies that let the applicant pick where they want to work, except maybe Customs and Border Protection Officers (CBPO's).

Good Luck

[CityOfChicago]

I wanted to go someplace that was fast, where everyday I got to drive the car like a comet, and was large enough to have many different jobs and units to go to. A buddy of mine works in a suburb and he had to wait 9 years to work plainclothes because that unit only had 6 officers and he had to wait till one was promoted or retired. I didn't want that. And I can tell you that in 4 years here I've more arrests, done more search warrants, recovered more hot cars, been in more fights,...you get the idea, then he has in 10. I'd like to parlay that experience into something.

[armydiver]

Well thats about as spot on to what I'm looking for as you can get. I'm drawn to law enforcement for the same reasons I was drawn to the infantry. I can't stand desks and hate being in an office. I understand there is a certain level of paperwork to go with all the "high speed" stuff but I couldn't do it all the time. I love infantry work and being deployed, I'd just like to have more of a direct impact in what I do and have it be in MY country, and not someone elses. Thanks for the suggestions.

[retdetsgt]

I wanted to go someplace that was fast, where everyday I got to drive the car like a comet, and was large enough to have many different jobs and units to go to.

My dept is nowhere nearly as big as yours, but I liked it for the same reasons. We have SWAT, bomb squad, horse patrol, bicycle, intelligence, drugs and vice, ad nauseam. In detectives, we have child abuse, sex crimes, robbery, homicide, fraud, burglary, fence detail, pawn shop detail and more. Even in uniform, different parts of the city were almost like working in different police depts. I started in our "ghetto", worked there for a few years, worked in a poor white trash (hillbilly) neighborhood and then worked in a quieter one before I got promoted. It seemed just transferring precincts made the job different.

As a detective, I moved around in the various crimes against persons details, including being assigned to drugs as a Sgt to lead the investigations of drug labs that started becoming a headache in the mid 80's. For a guy like me with a short attention span, it was great that I could move around every few years when I started getting bored. I even served a stint as a liaison between CSD and the police. I sit up a couple of programs to integrate investigations that made it easier for both agencies and benefited kids. Most of my detective time was spent in sex crimes, homicide and then in hate crimes, my last three years.

For a guy who was reluctant to be a cop, I loved my job. :D