Do University Police Officers

[studentcj]

get the same respect as state and municipal and county officers amongst other police officers, or is it common for those agencies to look down on university police officers. Do you know any former uni officers that eventually moved to a city, county, or state agency

[kels]

Depends on where you work.
The rules and attitudes are different from place to place.

Where I worked once upon a time, we got paid better than
the local agency. It was a bit of a sore spot.
To rub salt in the wound, they worked harder........

[Legoate]

In my area the majority of the school officers lack the experience of the municipal police. Many of their officers were hired straight out of an academy and have never worked outside the school environment. Although major crimes can occur anywhere, the volume that they deal with is quite low.

It became painfully obvious when they recently had a homicide on school campus- none of the officers there had ever tried to work and contain a homicide scene. It was something that I experienced multiple times while I was still in training and is now just another call with a lot more yellow tape to hang.

[tcop733]

In my area many colleges want applicants with experience.
One college I applied to wanted at least five years street experience.
Many college and school police departments, at least here in Texas, are fully functioning police departments.
Investigators, patrolman, on and on.
I know when I was fresh out of the academy the thought of being a school cop wasn't very appealing.
Now days; it's appealing.

[kels]

Now days; it's appealing.

Yeah, 3 months of summer with 95% of the student body gone.
A month off at Christmas with 99% of the student body gone.

[retdetsgt]

Ditto what Leogate said. Any group that specialized isn't going to get much all around experience. I trusted them to know more about the school, etc. than I did, but otherwise they were pretty limited.

That's not to say we looked down on them though. Up until recently, Portland Public schools had their own police department. As said, they weren't great with crime scenes, etc., but they were damn good at talking to kids and getting info from them.

Actually, I feel that way about a lot of people in our traffic division. They're great at accident reconstruction, etc., but most haven't actually investigated anything outside of a traffic incident in years and years. We don't encourage them to assist at regular crimes scenes except for maybe traffic diversion. Not all of course, but many found a home there.

[studentcj]

In my area many colleges want applicants with experience.
One college I applied to wanted at least five years street experience.
Many college and school police departments, at least here in Texas, are fully functioning police departments.
Investigators, patrolman, on and on.
I know when I was fresh out of the academy the thought of being a school cop wasn't very appealing.
Now days; it's appealing.

Yeah I would expect a major university like UT-Austin or A&M to have that

do you see yourself staying as a university officer for the forseeable future, or will you move on eventually. Also, how big is the university you currently work at

[Safety Steve]

I have a good friend that left LE, busted his butt to get his PHD and was teaching at a University. On Monday he started his new job as the chief of police at a University. He said the pay was twice what he was making as a professor. The pay is over 100k.


Be Safe.

[tcop733]

Yeah I would expect a major university like UT-Austin or A&M to have that

do you see yourself staying as a university officer for the forseeable future, or will you move on eventually. Also, how big is the university you currently work at

I work for a Sheriff's Office now.
Last agency I worked for spent seven years there, five of those inside a Junior High. Before hitting the junior high as their SRO/DARE instructor, I had 9 years on the streets.
I'm not so sure it would be the ideal setting for a new boot. For the most part it's a PR position, tickets issued now and then......and maybe taking a kid or two into custody about twice a month.
Fresh out of the academy you'd probably be bored beyond comprehension. I know fresh out of the academy I wanted to be on the streets where the action was.
Granted, a junior high is probably just a tad different than a big University campus like UT.
But, those folks are into PR too, heck I guess all police dept's. are to a certain extent.
You're definitely in a fish bowl while working any campus.

[Chef_Au]

Gee and here I was thinking this thread was a bit of a meet & greet market: "Do University Police Officers"

Imagine how let down I felt ;-)

[studentcj]

I work for a Sheriff's Office now.
Last agency I worked for spent seven years there, five of those inside a Junior High. Before hitting the junior high as their SRO/DARE instructor, I had 9 years on the streets.
I'm not so sure it would be the ideal setting for a new boot. For the most part it's a PR position, tickets issued now and then......and maybe taking a kid or two into custody about twice a month.
Fresh out of the academy you'd probably be bored beyond comprehension. I know fresh out of the academy I wanted to be on the streets where the action was.
Granted, a junior high is probably just a tad different than a big University campus like UT.
But, those folks are into PR too, heck I guess all police dept's. are to a certain extent.
You're definitely in a fish bowl while working any campus.

thanks for the info, personally speaking I don't think I could work for a school district, but I would be willing to work for a major university