Thanks for the opinions guys.
Jules, Its been in my mind for a pretty long time. I've just never thought about too hard. I'm hoping the ride along will shed a little more light on it.
I plan on doing alot of reserch about it. I've also got a few people that can give me the low down. This why I said in a couple of years maybe. I want to make the right decision.
Thanks every one.
And thanks for the pic Classic. Nice shots.

 

Good Luck dude. Gotta be happy at with what you do.....most days.....everybody hates their job some days....

 

If it has been in your mind for long time, go for it! Money isn't everything. Unless you are earning very much higher that what you are going to be offered as a police officer, its different story then.

 

CBR,
Man....Im always the first to say two things:

1. You must enjoy what you do to be good at it.

2. Dont be afraid to go outside your comfort zone to get ahead in life. You'll never know if you never try.

I always considered law enforcement, but the idea of being a regular cop is not somthing I think I would enjoy. Now, If i could hop straight into ATF, or DEA, that would be cool. I say, go for it bro. Believeit or not, I want to be a teacher when I retire from the Army.

 

I always wanted to be a police officer as well, I went to college and got couple of years under my belt and then went to the police academy, well it was exact opposite what I thought it was going to be

 

Sorry stupid computer, let me continue.

I wanted to be a police officer to help people, fight crime, chasing bad guys, well turns out you don't do very much of that, you babysit bunch of people ( domestic violence ) and your hand are really tied up most of the time, you spend 8-12 hours in your car with 20lbs of crap on your belt ( back problems), with a vest ( sucks in the summer time), and do what the county wants you to do, pulling people over for stupid stuff and become fat ( heart problems), most cops die from health issues then gun shots.
I went on 7 ride alongs, and 6 of them the officers were very negative, hated their jobs and told me that they wanted to do something else in the next year or so. One of them was in nursing school and told me that his reasons were well you ready????? Lots of ladies.
Let me get back to the academy, we had 13 guys in my class, 1 marine, 2 army guys, 2 navy guys. 2 guys dropped out within 3 weeks, one could'nt afford it, the other one wanted to be a counselor, which was cool. Our director had a meeting with the rest of us and basically talked **** about the guys that dropped out, which I thought was very very unprofessional.
Most of our instructors were cops, one was ex cop emt. They all told us to be a firefighter, cause being a cop sucked. All except for maybe 2 recruits wanted to be a police officer for the wrong reasons it seemed to me. They either wanted the badge for the power, lots of attention from ladies, and they were bullies. Most of them were out of shape, had no people skill what so ever.
If you're not ex military you're going to have some problems adjusting, cause everything is paramilitary, chain of command, polishing shoes, walking and talking. They also will try to brake you down mentally and physically to rebuild you in what they want ( didn't work for me), also if you're in idividual, hmm you'll be in trouble, they don't want that. They want people that do what you're being told to do, even though it might seem stupid to you. You'll get yelled at for no reason, they'll talk **** to you about your family, your friends, they'll tell you bunch of negative things, will start rumors about you, will try to find your weakness, will try to embarass you infront of others, I can go on and on and on.
You'll get to learn how the criminal justice system works, that a lot of rules are bs, it's all about the money for the county and not really fighting the crime, and that minors are a pain in the *** to deal with.
Once you'll graduate it might take you a while to find a job, and if you'll find 1, you'll probably going to work for the very crappy county, you're going to be a bitch for the first couple of years, taking calls that nobody wants, like somebody's dog pooped on somebody's yard or a broken window that you're going to have to write a big report about. The best part is when the weather sucks ( snow, rain), you'll be outside writing a car crash report that is like 20 pages long for the insurace company, you'll also going to have to work on all the holidays, all the crappy shifts, your kids birthdays, you'll have people look at you funny, call you every name in the book, but the white man, spit on you, or act plain stupid, every call that you'll get you'll never get a thank you, people will always be pissed when you'll get there, drunks are cool too, if they throw up in your car you'll have to clean that up, oh and have you ever smelled a dry or wet floater????? The thing that turned me off the most is that most of your shift you'll spend time writing reports, actually 90% of police work is writing reports. I am a hands on kind of guy so I'd get real bored with it, and for the money I'd be an accountant if I wanted to be a writer plus you make 20-50% more money and nobody is trying to shoot you for no reason.

If you have any questions pm me.

 

Thank you so much hellboytt! You shed a bunch of light on the topic for me. I appreciate it.
I’m shocked about the attitude from the academy. Is it possible that just that one was like that? Or are all of them going to be pretty similar to that?

No, I don’t come from military. And I figured that would be a huge obstacle to overcome if or when I choose to pursue this choice. The screaming and yelling at me thing just makes me mad and yell back. Like I said… Huge obstacle.
My Uncle told me a lot about all the reports he had to do. And in Vegas way worse than up here. But I have to do a lot of paperwork for my current job now. So… It might not be so bad.
Once again, Thanks for all your replies guys. It’s helped a lot. I’m still going to think all this over long and hard. And research as much as I can. And in time Ill let you guys know what happens. Still a ways away.

 

No problem man, it just takes a special breed to be a cop. The thing that I hated on my ride alongs is that every cop had a different idea on who he was going to give tickets to and who they would let go. On my ride alongs we pulled over couple of hundred of people for doing the same thing, braking the law, but let most of them go for reasons such as some of them knew some of the cops, some were firefighters, some were up there in the chain ( in the government), basically people that got ticketed were just regular people, i didn't think it was fair. I had to make desicion multiple times to issue a ticket to somebody or not, and the only thing that I cared for is if they had a huge record I ticketed them, and if the violation was minor and they had a clean record I would give them a warning and let them go, because nobody is perfect and if you see somebody doing 11mph over on some street with no traffic and not endangering anybody's life with a clean driving record I don't see nothing wrong with giving them a written warning and telling them to slow it down little bit. Oh and the whole hating other cops from different county's is just wrong, I got little bit of trash talk from every officer that I rode along with, too much hating and too much drama. All I wanted to do is my job and go home, not to be in a drama all day long.

Think about it, go on a couple of ride alongs, ask as many questions as possible, maybe it's for you.

 

"It's awkward having a policeman around the house. Friends drop in, a man with a badge answers the door, the temperature drops 20 degrees.
You throw a party and that badge gets in the way. All of a sudden there isn't a straight man in the crowd. Everybody's a comedian. "Don't drink too much," somebody says, "or the man with a badge'll run you in." Or "How's it going, Dick Tracy? How many jaywalkers did you pinch today?" And then there's always the one who wants to know how many apples you stole.
All at once you lost your first name. You're a cop, a flatfoot, a bull, a dick, John Law. You're the fuzz, the heat; you're poison, you're trouble, you're bad news. They call you everything, but never a policeman.
It's not much of a life, unless you don't mind missing a Dodger game because the hotshot phone rings. Unless you like working Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, at a job that doesn't pay overtime. Oh, the pay's adequate if you count pennies you can put your kid through college, but you better plan on seeing Europe on your television set.
And then there's your first night on the beat. When you try to arrest a drunken prostitute in a Main St. bar and she rips your new uniform to shreds. You'll buy another one out of your own pocket.
And you're going to rub elbows with the elite pimps, addicts, thieves, bums, winos, girls who can't keep an address and men who don't care. Liars, cheats, con men the class of Skid Row.
And the heartbreak underfed kids, beaten kids, molested kids, lost kids, crying kids, homeless kids, hit-and-run kids, broken-arm kids, broken-leg kids, broken-head kids, sick kids, dying kids, dead kids. The old people nobody wants the reliefers, the pensioners, the ones who walk the street cold, and those who tried to keep warm and died in a $3 room with an unventilated gas heater. You'll walk your beat and try to pick up the pieces.
Do you have real adventure in your soul? You better have, because you're gonna do time in a prowl car. Oh, it's going to be a thrill a minute when you get an unknown-trouble call and hit a backyard at two in the morning, never knowing who you'll meet a kid with a knife, a pill-head with a gun, or two ex-cons with nothing to lose.
And you're going to have plenty of time to think. You'll draw duty in a lonely car, with nobody to talk to but your radio.
Four years in uniform and you'll have the ability, the experience and maybe the desire to be a detective. If you like to fly by the seat of your pants, this is where you belong. For every crime that's committed, you've got three million suspects to choose from. And most of the time, you'll have few facts and a lot of hunches. You'll run down leads that dead-end on you. You'll work all-night stakeouts that could last a week. You'll do leg work until you're sure you've talked to everybody in the state of California.
People who saw it happen - but really didn't. People who insist they did it - but really didn't. People who don't remember - those who try to forget. Those who tell the truth - those who lie. You'll run the files until your eyes ache.
And paperwork? Oh, you'll fill out a report when you're right, you'll fill out a report when you're wrong, you'll fill one out when you're not sure, you'll fill one out listing your leads, you'll fill one out when you have no leads, you'll fill out a report on the reports you've made! You'll write enough words in your lifetime to stock a library. You'll learn to live with doubt, anxiety, frustration. Court decisions that tend to hinder rather than help you. Dorado, Morse, Escobedo, Cahan. You'll learn to live with the District Attorney, testifying in court, defense attorneys, prosecuting attorneys, judges, juries, witnesses. And sometimes you're not going to be happy with the outcome.
But there's also this: there are over 5,000 men in this city, who know that being a policeman is an endless, glamourless, thankless job that's gotta be done.
I know it, too, and I'm damn glad to be one of them."


"What Is a Cop?"
(From "The Interrogation")
Written by: Preston Wood

 

Most of the officers I know, and I know a bunch, have all said they became cops because of the benefits. They also said they just want to live thru their 20 years and get out.