Correctional Officer, Probation Officer?

[audioslav3]

Hello all.

I am a 22-year-old college student (in Florida) only 2 semesters away from getting a degree in Criminal Justice. Since childhood I have always been fascinated by everything law enforcement related. I initially thought about doing Forensic Science but changed my mind after realizing how much science was involved. I started at UCF and having to choose a major I selected Criminal Justice. The more courses I take the more interested in the field I get. I am now sort of stuck on "what to do in life." Now exactly sure if I would love being a police officer. Admittedly, I am intimidated by the risks involved. People are ruthless today and would take a life over $5. The idea that I couldn't come home to my family that day would be scary. The area of corrections also interests me but I am not sure I could handle being a Correctional Officer. I am sure that there is danger involved in this as well. I understand that it's different everywhere, but is there generally a lot of danger being a CO? Do they get benefits like police officers?

My advisors keeps telling me about "Probation Officers" but I still am not sure exactly what their job entails. What are their day-to-day duties and is this something comparable to being a police officer? Are you sworn, do you carry a firearm, do you encounter danger daily? Exactly how dangerous is this profession?

Thanks for any advice... I know that I probably sound "scared" but my Father's friend worked for the Highway Patrol and was shot and killed several years ago. Now everybody in my life keeps telling me this field is too dangerous. It is what interests me though and I think I want to have a career in it.

Thank you kindly in advance,
Dave

[sweamco]

Hi there,
While I have no experience as a Probation officer, I am currently working as a Corrections Officer and I do like it. Probation officers handle a case load of offenders who, instead of being sent to prison or jail are sentensed to different terms and conditions of community corrections. Probation Officers are sworn law enforcement officers and are allowed to carry weapons.
Now to the part that I am more familiar with:

Being a Corrections Officer can be a rewarding job, you can also get shi* bombed or stabbed which is not very rewarding. Corrections officer carry weapons in towers and when taking offenders on a transport, usually for medical reasons. My department require us to qualify every 6months on the AR 15 and Remington 870 Shotgun. Those of us who do transports also have to qualify quarterly on handgun (.40 Caliber Glock at our facility). Being a Corrections Officer can be dangerous I guess, but so can being a taxi driver. I have never been a Police Officer so I can not speak for them. Usually inmates fight each other more than they fight staff but it does happen that Corrections Officers get assaulted. Only once have I had an offender pull out a shank on me. Luckily I had called for backup earlier and by the time the offender presented the weapon he was heavily outnumbered. Use of force incidents are fairly regular at the facility I am at but this will vary depening on where you work. The last Corrections Officer killed in the line of duty at my department was back in 2003. You are right that people are ruthless today and would kill someone for $5. If you are a Police Officer you will bring those kind of people to prison. If you are a Corrections Officer you will deal with them in prison. As long as you work in the criminal justice field you will deal with idiots. In prison offenders are supposed to be unarmed, but they get creative sometimes. Police Officers deal with bad guys in situations where the bad guys have home field advantage. As you can imagine, a Police Officer stands a greater risk of being shot then a Corrections Officer does.
As far as benefits goes that would depend on the department. I am a state employee and enjoy pretty good benefits. The State Troopers in my state have better benefits and make more money than I do. Having said that I get paid more than some Police Officers who work for smaller departments. It all depends on where you work. Bigger Police Departments tend to have better pay and benefits than what we get in the Department of Corrections.

Another career to consider is to be a Parole officer. Similar to probation but Parole Officers deal with offenders who have served time in prison and are given the chance to serve part of their time in the community under the supervision of a Parole Officer. Great pay and usually a lucrative job. The majority of the Parole Officers I know are former Police Officers.

Hope this helps. If you have any other questions about the field of Corrections feel free to ask. If you go into Corrections do so because you WANT too. There are so many police officer wannabe's who work in Corrections. Those people are wasting everyone's time and are not looked upon in a positive light. Be who you are and do what it is that you want to do.

Take care