Police: Employment - What do I need?

LEO

You need a good aim (for gun), training classes to help you

Mel

Why do you think that your experience in IT wont help you? The use of technology in committing crimes and in solving crimes is going up exponentially.
The things that any agency is going to look for our: are you reliable/dependable? Do you have a good steady work history? (if you have bounced form job to job to job every few months thats a bad sign - if you've stayed with the same company for years that's a good thing). Do you have common sense? Some police work is taught - knowledge of the laws and such, but being able to put all of that into practice and use your judgement to review a situation, that's different. If you cant logic yourself out of a paper bag you have a problem, if you read people well, then that's a good thing! A lot of agencies pay extra for degrees, whether or not they are related to police work - it shows that you are willing to go the extra mile. It also looks good when people ask about their department and they can say that "x" number of people have college degrees.

As far as the training process - well, it aint easy. Being fit enough to get thru the academy is important, and some agencies are doing yearly physical exams (although not many)(*sigh*)(they should). most academies follow something similar to the Cooper Standards (you can do a search on the internet) so this will give you a guide to get started. However, a lot of academies do something more than that, so you'll need to look into what those academies want and make sure you are ready. I suggest being more than ready. When I went thru the academy (i am a 30 something female) i got my fitness standards down around to where a young 20's male would be. This garnered me a lot of respect from my classmates and my instructors, and got me better recommendations. I also keep up my fitness standards.

The bookwork is not necessarily difficult, but requires a LOT of memorization. There are sooooo many laws and codes, and search procedures, etc.... you will spend hours studying everyday, even if you do well in school (i always did well in school but this was a LOT!).

Firearms training. They will teach you everything you need to know, but if you get a chance to at least familiarize yourself with what its like to shoot a gun you will be more comfortable. However, make sure you take some lessons from a qualified trainer so that you dont learn any bad habits.

Driving training -.. well, have fun. Not for the faint of heart (but neither is this job). I had soo much fun.

Defensive tactics - be prepared to get your butt whooped on a regular basis. Have lots of cold and ice packs on hand, and a few ace bandages as well. That was a lot of fun too. you'll learn to do things you never thought you could do. If you have the opportunity to take some martial arts beforehand, this will prepare you a bit more for what its like.

Some departments have their own academies, so you apply directly with the department and if they accept you they send you to their academy. The smaller departments dont have this, so some will sponsor you to put you thru a local academy, and others will want you to already be certified thru an academy before they will hire you. you need to look into what is out there in the area you want to work.

Even though more and more people are applying into law enforcement careers, and its one of the few areas that has not seen as big an impact as others by this economic downturn (although that is not the case in many departments, sadly enough), there is still a lack of qualified applicants. if you have dings in your history, it will be even harder for you to find work in the L.E. field than it ever was.

Good luck, I love my job.

Sparky

You're probably better off than you think. Business degrees are pretty useful in police work. And with the infusion of technology, IT guys/gals are becoming increasingly more popular in police work.

One thing to do is to go to www.publicsafetytesting.com to see if where you want to work does some of their testing. Many agencies use this service for their initial testing so that they don't have to pay for it.

If you get past that then you will probably be invited to do a physical agility test. These are also inexpensive for police agencies to administer so it is usually the second step.

If you get to the next step it will probably be an oral examination by a panel of 3 to 5 examiners. It can be more or less. They will ask you all kinds of questions to test your speaking ability and composure under stress. There will be some questions that will test your common sense as well.

If you score well on the oral board you may be given an interview with the person who makes the hiring decisions. Usually this is the Chief of Police, I say usually because there are more small agencies than big and it is the Chief that does it.

If the Chief likes you, then you get to go through a medical exam, a polygraph test, and a psychological exam. The order usually depends on the cost, you can figure which is the least expensive. This is done because if you fail any part you won't be hired. They don't want to pay for the next step unless you pass the previous one.

Once you pass all of the pre-hire tests you get commissioned and sent to the Academy. Here you get to go to school with lots of tests and severe scrutiny.

Is it hard to find a job. Nope, it's just hard to get hired. At one time I was advised that the Seattle Police were only hiring 3 out of 100 that applied. Pretty low chance. My own agency has experienced the same kind of numbers.
Lots of people think they want to be police officers but it appears many of them are not suited or things in their pasts have prevented it.

Hope this helped.

what now

There's an intelligence test you have to take.

If you pass it, you can't be a cop.

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