Young, but may be interested in police career

[Easy]

Hey guys, I’m just wondering if maybe a few of you could offer me some help. I’m a senior in high school, and I’ll be turning 18 in April. I’ve applied to a few colleges and after not getting into a few of them; I’ve started to wonder on what else life could offer me. Recovering from surgery I’ve been home for weeks now. I sit home and watched cops, Texas swat, and all the shows on the court channel. My mom noticed that i find it very interesting, and that i actually love the shows & asked if id ever be interested in becoming something of that nature as a career. I know these programs don’t show the full aspect of being a police officer, but it still interests me a lot.

so i came online tonight, and I’ve been searching around and haven’t really found any helpful information. I’m curious on where I would possibly start out, and for some opinions on this option. The only police officer i know personally is in my family & works for the summit pd, in new jersey. i know he enjoys it - but I also know its long hours and hard at times. A lot of people say "hey, just go to college and then figure it out from there." and I know that’d help but truthfully I don’t know if college if right for me at this point. I’m very knowledgeable but I never really did the best in school because no matter how hard i tried, it never interested me. I guess you can call me a jock, I’m very athletic and have great hand/eye coordination & am a great quick thinker, and I know this would help me with this job. The part of the business that interested me the most was SWAT. I’ve asked a few friends and they basically told me a swat team is made up of members of police officers who basically just took some extra courses for it (doubtful.) But SWAT information on the net in jersey was hard to find. I know I’m young and i know a have a whole life ahead of me but I’m just trying to keep my options open. as they say the best jobs are the fun jobs. my record if clean (1 speeding ticket & i stole a wallet two days after my 14th birthday; wasn't even cuffed.) I remember the police telling me if i stayed clean my record would be erased at 18. I hope this wouldn't affect any chances of a possible career. Any Leo’s options would be GREATLY appreciated, especially on the swat aspect. BTW, I currently reside in Mountainside, New Jersey. Thanks again, now off to bed for senior mid-terms tomorrow. Sorry for no spell check, i need to get a good nights rest with this bum shoulder i got :uh oh: goodnight

Edit: Also, one of the concerns i have with this is the salary. i dont know any other way to put it besides being blunt about it; its really not that great. With the rising costs of houses,taxes,etc its one concern that i truely do have. I'm sure a few of you guys can relate. What are some of the higher paying police positions (besides being like a captain or something you'd definatly have to attend a 4+ year college to apply for).

 

[FordSVTFan]

First off L.E. jobs in NJ are extremely competitive. Candidates are coming in with not only college degrees but advanced degrees. Salaries for L.E.O.s in the Northeast are some of the highest in the country. Most P.D.s in the NY/NJ metro area at five years top pay without overtime you will make $65K. Corporals, Sgts, Lts, Cpts go up significantly from there. Suffolk County police start at $89K.

Prior surgeries can also preclude you from getting on the job.

SWAT/SRT/HRT/ESU etc are all specialized teams within larger departments. The smaller departments rarely have a dedicated unit. To qualify for these teams you will need a few years on the street and then apply and get advanced training.

Most agencies now require at least 60 college credits which often can be substituted for military service. NJSP requires a 4 year degree. And like I said with the candidate pool being so vast, departments often have their pick of very qualified candidates, so you need to have experience, educations, etc that makes you stand out.

Go to the websites for the agencies/departments you are looking at and see what their requirements are.

To be honest NYPD has been decreasing their standards to attract more officers, you might want to start there. I think the minimum age is 18 to apply.

good luck

You might want to consider joining the military.

 

[stangd1909]

You might want to consider joining the military.

+1


If I didn't have a wife and kids I would still be in! I think for someone right out of highschool its a great choice! :beer:

 

[Lawman85]

+1


If I didn't have a wife and kids I would still be in! I think for someone right out of highschool its a great choice! :beer:

+2

Since you are not 100 % set on LE as a career this would be a great idea. You would still be able to attend and graduate college and when you finish your 4 years you would have alot of real world experience and your degree. That way, if you haven't received the "calling" to be an LEO, you still have a great education and training to get another job. Of course, it you start the military and still decided to go into LE, I would recommend trying to so to a special operations unit too. That looks good on a resume and gives you great training. And, you would be serving your country.

 

[99GTtony]

Definitely consider the military. My brother is in Navy boot right now, and he loves it. After graduation he is going to Texas for his Master at Arms school, which is the Navy's police force. Once he gets stationed he is going to go to college and get his education furthered to look even better for a LE job once he gets out.

 

[Riddla]

Join the military :idea: ........it might help you out with joining SWAT..etc

 

[Lawfficer]

First off L.E. jobs in NJ are extremely competitive. Candidates are coming in with not only college degrees but advanced degrees. Salaries for L.E.O.s in the Northeast are some of the highest in the country. Most P.D.s in the NY/NJ metro area at five years top pay without overtime you will make $65K.

Indeed. The area I work (Wisconsin) has some of the best Police Training in the state, and midwest in general and our hiring process is highly competitive. Around here, if you don't have 60 college credits most places will automaticly toss your application into the trash.

Police work is no longer for the Big, Dumb, and Ugly generation. Crooks are becoming smarter and smarter(well some of them) and Defense Lawyers are becoming very efficent at finding loop holes and what not. Police are increasingly having to be Silver Tounged Angels to compete with the the Silver Tounged Devils that roam the Street and Court room.

And nowadays with everyone so eagar to throw lawsuits at officers and departments, Agencies simply CAN NOT afford to put anyone on the street that is less than highy trained and educated.

Now im not crushing your dreams here, but if you want to get to a be cop, and a good one, you need some College Education. Also, the military may be a good option for you. Just make sure you only sign the papers with something in writing saying what your MOS will be. A specilized skill is where you want to be such as a 95Bravo (MP if im correct). Anyone can go into the Military and be in the Infantry, but when you think about it... There is not a huge job market for a Infantry Solider on the Civilan Market.

 

[CSD]

First off L.E. jobs in NJ are extremely competitive.

+10. I've been trying to get onto a police agency myself for the last five years and it finally paid off as I was hired June '05. My advice for you would be to go to college. Atleast attain a two year degree in Criminal Justice as that is what most local departments here in Jersey require now a days. And start taking the civil service test that NJ offers. I have taken the test three times and the third time was a charm with a 97.6

Good luck

 

[nitrovic]

Hey guys, I’m just wondering if maybe a few of you could offer me some help. I’m a senior in high school, and I’ll be turning 18 in April. I’ve applied to a few colleges and after not getting into a few of them; I’ve started to wonder on what else life could offer me. Recovering from surgery I’ve been home for weeks now. I sit home and watched cops, Texas swat, and all the shows on the court channel. My mom noticed that i find it very interesting, and that i actually love the shows & asked if id ever be interested in becoming something of that nature as a career. I know these programs don’t show the full aspect of being a police officer, but it still interests me a lot.

so i came online tonight, and I’ve been searching around and haven’t really found any helpful information. I’m curious on where I would possibly start out, and for some opinions on this option. The only police officer i know personally is in my family & works for the summit pd, in new jersey. i know he enjoys it - but I also know its long hours and hard at times. A lot of people say "hey, just go to college and then figure it out from there." and I know that’d help but truthfully I don’t know if college if right for me at this point. I’m very knowledgeable but I never really did the best in school because no matter how hard i tried, it never interested me. I guess you can call me a jock, I’m very athletic and have great hand/eye coordination & am a great quick thinker, and I know this would help me with this job. The part of the business that interested me the most was SWAT. I’ve asked a few friends and they basically told me a swat team is made up of members of police officers who basically just took some extra courses for it (doubtful.) But SWAT information on the net in jersey was hard to find. I know I’m young and i know a have a whole life ahead of me but I’m just trying to keep my options open. as they say the best jobs are the fun jobs. my record if clean (1 speeding ticket & i stole a wallet two days after my 14th birthday; wasn't even cuffed.) I remember the police telling me if i stayed clean my record would be erased at 18. I hope this wouldn't affect any chances of a possible career. Any Leo’s options would be GREATLY appreciated, especially on the swat aspect. BTW, I currently reside in Mountainside, New Jersey. Thanks again, now off to bed for senior mid-terms tomorrow. Sorry for no spell check, i need to get a good nights rest with this bum shoulder i got :uh oh: goodnight

Edit: Also, one of the concerns i have with this is the salary. i dont know any other way to put it besides being blunt about it; its really not that great. With the rising costs of houses,taxes,etc its one concern that i truely do have. I'm sure a few of you guys can relate. What are some of the higher paying police positions (besides being like a captain or something you'd definatly have to attend a 4+ year college to apply for).

It is very rare that a high school diploma by itself will get you on a police department nowadays. I would suggest the military and/or a degree. SWAT teams arent just comprised of officers who take extra classes. Most SWAT teams train their butts off (which they dont show on the TV) and the majority of their time is spent on perimeter out in the elements. Its not as glamarous as the TV portrays it to be.

 

[mvcrash]

It is absolutely crazy what has happened to the Police Job. When I got on, no one wanted the job. My friends thought I was a jerk, and my father,who was retired NYPD, wanted to kill me.
Now, due to the increase in salaries, everyone wants to be a cop. I think everyone forgets one thing about being a cop.......It can KILL YOU. And the old saying " A good cop is never cold, wet or hungry" is flat out horse crap. I've been shot at, spit on, bled on, almost....ALMOST urinated on (it was the dog of a bad guy), I've been terribly cold, terribly hungry (which if you look now at me, I have fixed) and terribly wet. I've been scared to death and then three minutes later laughing so hard I should have busted. I've come milliseconds from ending someones life and thankfully never had to. I've seen death, happiness, hunger, hatred, silliness and the worst, loneliness. I've seen human beings torn to pieces, and body parts sprayed all over other people. I've been to over 300 autopsies and searched for missing children. I've evacuated schools due to bomb threats and seen them locked down on 9/11. I've run into burning buildings and carried old ladies to safety ( I punched my partner for that one cause he did'nt tell me it was on fire, just some smoke ). That just scratches the surface.
I am not the same person I was when I started. Everyone changes but we become jaded.

You have to sit and think about that. I have lost three very close friends to the job and have investigated the death of another.

If you ask yourself why you want to do this job, and the answer is, money, benefits, pension or you just cannot find something else, don't do it.

To this day I don't know why I wanted to be a cop. I know why I stayed, but I never could figure out the why I went to it. I took a substantial cut in pay to do it and again, my freinds and family thought I was nuts. ( I think my fathers head turned around in its socket).

Oh....yea...then your gonna read post from people that think we are jerks, but when they get in trouble, have no problem calling us. Some fo your freinds will no longer talk to you, others will want favors.

My other piece of advice is to read the post at the top of this forum, and then sit down and think long and hard.

 

[Lawman85]

It is absolutely crazy what has happened to the Police Job. When I got on, no one wanted the job. My friends thought I was a jerk, and my father,who was retired NYPD, wanted to kill me.
Now, due to the increase in salaries, everyone wants to be a cop. I think everyone forgets one thing about being a cop.......It can KILL YOU. And the old saying " A good cop is never cold, wet or hungry" is flat out horse crap. I've been shot at, spit on, bled on, almost....ALMOST urinated on (it was the dog of a bad guy), I've been terribly cold, terribly hungry (which if you look now at me, I have fixed) and terribly wet. I've been scared to death and then three minutes later laughing so hard I should have busted. I've come milliseconds from ending someones life and thankfully never had to. I've seen death, happiness, hunger, hatred, silliness and the worst, loneliness. I've seen human beings torn to pieces, and body parts sprayed all over other people. I've been to over 300 autopsies and searched for missing children. I've evacuated schools due to bomb threats and seen them locked down on 9/11. I've run into burning buildings and carried old ladies to safety ( I punched my partner for that one cause he did'nt tell me it was on fire, just some smoke ). That just scratches the surface.
I am not the same person I was when I started. Everyone changes but we become jaded.

You have to sit and think about that. I have lost three very close friends to the job and have investigated the death of another.

If you ask yourself why you want to do this job, and the answer is, money, benefits, pension or you just cannot find something else, don't do it.

To this day I don't know why I wanted to be a cop. I know why I stayed, but I never could figure out the why I went to it. I took a substantial cut in pay to do it and again, my freinds and family thought I was nuts. ( I think my fathers head turned around in its socket).

Oh....yea...then your gonna read post from people that think we are jerks, but when they get in trouble, have no problem calling us. Some fo your freinds will no longer talk to you, others will want favors.

My other piece of advice is to read the post at the top of this forum, and then sit down and think long and hard.

:beer:

Wow...that was an awesome post. I was going through your list of things you have done and was checking off mine at the same time.... I never really sat down and thought about all the things you see in this job quite like you have done.

 

[Joey D]

evan, try applying to auxiliary police in spfld. they hire high schoolers. and spfld aux have guns. 3 months part time in academy is not that bad. its starting in march soo hurry. or try to start as a dispatcher. also dispatching counts towards your pension. so its like being a cop pension wise. its transferable too. they will hire you right outa high school like me.

 

[Easy]

evan, try applying to auxiliary police in spfld. they hire high schoolers. and spfld aux have guns. 3 months part time in academy is not that bad. its starting in march soo hurry. or try to start as a dispatcher. also dispatching counts towards your pension. so its like being a cop pension wise. its transferable too. they will hire you right outa high school like me.

pm'd joey

quick question... my uncle became a police officer in jersey and it never came off to me like it was that hard to do besides the crazy mind games they would play with him & the training...he worked as a mechanic, and i believe he was 26 when he applied to become a police officer for caldwell, and now he switched to the summit pd after a year. no college or degrees either, any ideas?

 

[Joey D]

pm replied. hit me on aim later.

 

[FranticFocus05]

I didn’t have time right now to read all the replies that you have already gotten but here is my input and what I am doing.

I am 18 and going to my local community college majoring in Administration of Justice doing the two year thing there before transferring to either JMU or GMU to finish up and I have worked it out where my credits will go to the college of my choice. So when I am done I will have 4 years of college with an ADJ degree.

If no one else has said it go out and get an internship with a local department, anything to get your feet wet in the real world. I grew up with a DEA officer and a sister who is a Sheriff and loved cops and all those shows but now that I am working with the sheriffs department I get to see all aspects of the job. I am working (with no help from my sister) in the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office in Arlington VA as a paid intern. The pay isn’t that great but I get to work in the corrections facility, booking, warrants, transportation, with the gang unit, I work most days with the IT section, and some days the police department gives me some work. They all want to show me around and keep me around for a long time.

You would be amazed how they will treat someone who is interested in a LEO job. They all want to give me advice and tips on what to do and how to do it. So the information you can obtain is priceless, and the people you will meet are people that can really help you along the way.

In two weeks I went from knowing no one to knowing all the deputies and training with them, going to lunch with the Sheriff and Chief Deputy Sheriff, I work with them personally every Wednesday. I have meet the Chief of police and all of the sergeants have offered to let me spend time in there department/unit and work with them for a hands on feel of the job.



If you don’t think it will do you any good to know people, when you finish up college or whatever way you go would it be better to be putting in an application with no reference or just regular jobs, or put in an application with a reference that says "Worked with Arlington County Sheriffs Office 3 years, personal references: Sheriff ___, Chief of Police ____, Chief Deputy Sheriff ____, and Sergeant ____" Of course the later one will be better...

Whatever you do good luck its one hell of an adventure!

 

[Nick85]

Go Airborne and never look back :coolman:

 

[Floridalawdog]

Military is a great way to start. If you choose the military, consider the Coast Guard. For starters basic training is In Cape May, NJ. Its a great branch of the military, and they do lots of cool different things. But the big thing is that the coast guard does lots of Law Enforcement, so its good experience. Lots of the other branches make fun of the Coast Guard. But dont let that discourage you. Look into it.

 

[Joey D]

evan, coast guard is great to be in. my friend tried joining but they were full. haha no room.

 

[Darkman]

Federal Law Enforcement is hiring at an all time high right now. Look at USAjobs.gov, go to college, get a minor in a 2nd language and apply yourself. Most of the 3 letter agencies require a 3.0 or better GPA. The feds have better starting pay than most local or state departments in the country and better health and life benefits. I spent 8 years at the state level before going federal the only thing I regret is not leaving sooner. Law enforcement is one of the last noble professions. You do it because you want to you ain't ever going to get rich doing it. Why do you see so many cops getting paid on the side to be rent a cops? It's because the department doesn't pay enough. Whatever path you choose local, state or federal they never pay you enough for the sacrifices you make. Good luck....

 

[mvcrash]

pm'd joey

quick question... my uncle became a police officer in jersey and it never came off to me like it was that hard to do besides the crazy mind games they would play with him & the training...he worked as a mechanic, and i believe he was 26 when he applied to become a police officer for caldwell, and now he switched to the summit pd after a year. no college or degrees either, any ideas?

Sounds like Civil service with no education requirement.

In NJ, you also have "Alternate Route." You pay your own way through the police academy and hope you get a job before your finished. Most of the good applicants get hired.
Check out the Morris County, NJ Police Academy for more information.

Good Luck!!