Law Enforcement Workers Please Help, Read this?

Question

I have a few questions for you guys the first one is do you feel that it was worth you getting into law enforcement.

I am a based in the south I know that there are a lot of racists sometimes in the force and also politics and stuff and me being black, how much do you think I will be affected by racism in the force and how is it dealing with the politics.

Last question if you are going to school studying to further your career in law enforcement, how is the scheduling. Do you work with you if you are going to school, and Do you get fired for not making your speeding ticket quotas.


I know these are quite a bit of questions, please help me.

Answer 1

I would advise you to look north for appointment to a police department . First off, the southern police departments are not covered by civil service in most cases. Which your employment in tenuous a best. The pay stinks and it is a very dangerous job.

Apply to the Suffolk County Police Department, New York which is actively recruiting minority candidates. It is a department of 2500 hundred officers. The recruit test is coming up soon. Base pay after 5 years is 95K with OT you should be making 115K a year, besides that the benefit package is unbelievable.

If not there try, any suburban department around NYC Stay away from the city the pay stinks.

The department has never has a quota system. I recall one officer who I had meet it a police reunion that he never made an arrest or given out a summon in 20 years. And that is a fact.

Answer 2

Maybe in some REAL small southern towns you may have a slight problem, but for the most part, big city and state departments don't play thoses games anymore. As with everything else, morons are employed everywhere and not just confined to law enforcement.
Most depts have steady shifts now. Most will also work with you. Some even have 12 hour tours giving you off up to 4 days a week. BUT... Law enforcement work is a 24/7 thing and there will be times your gonna get stuck. My brother went to law school while a cop and so have many,many other cops, so it can be done. I would wait til you are off probation though before shaking anything up... Many agencies offer tuition reimbursement as well.
As far as ticket quotas...they are illegal. You will be expected to maintain a certain level of performance though, as compared to other cops of the chiefs standards. Like with evrything else, it all depends on the agency. Big ones are more flexible and lienient. Smaller ones are harder to hide in. Also, a former coworker of mine went to medical school while workin nights as a NYC cop. He's now a doctor. It can be done.
Good Luck.

PS the guy above is 100% right. Try nassau County or Suffolk county. Great Depts. Great pay (100,000 plus)
Suffolk is having a test real soon, so apply and drive up to take the test. Check the county websites... NYPD does blow, but its a job and they'll hire almost anyone these days...

Answer 3

#1. Sometimes it doesn't matter if it's worth it because all you can do is try and make a difference.
#2.I live in the south(Mississippi)and i have never seen a cop be shown racism from another cop. Law breaks yes but never a fellow cop.
#3. As for the schooling...if your in college now then finish it before you join the department. They don't work around anything you need them to. Now if they send you then they want you to get the schooling before hand and pay for it like going to the academy or to some other training but they won't send you to college.
I hope this helps you out some.

Answer 4

Yes, I do feel that it was worth me getting into. There is a lot that I have gotten to do for my community that I would not have thought possible if I wasn't in law enforcement.

I am from the south also, but I do not see a lot of racism. I really don't. Truthfully, I guess it would depend on where you go, if you got into law enforcement, for you to see racism in the force. I'm going going to say that it is not out there, but it is not like what a lot of black or Mexican people think it is. I really don't think that you will be affected by it. But like I said, that might vary from place to place. We have a black guy that is on our force out here, and we all like him, he is a really good guy, and he does his job.

If you find yourself at one of those places that has a little bit of hidden racism, just do your job and forget about all the other people. Just do your job not matter what.

Some places will work with you on going to school to further your law enforcement career. Most of the time it will be the larger departments that will work with you on that, but in general they all want you to excel at your job, and how do you excel without going to more schooling. If you do run into a place that doesn't work with you on it, its just that they don't want to have you on staff, invest money in you, and then when you get your degree because they worked with you, you leave to go somewhere else that will pay you more.

It is all what you make it.

Good luck.

Answer 5

I have never known cops to discriminate against other cops based on race. Blue is blue no matter what color the skin under it is.

As for school, new accredited schools with online programs are a lifesaver when working a rotating schedule. If you wind up taking a class in a brick and mortar campus, many departments will work it out with you once you have a bit of seniority. (The online classes are a bit addictive, however.)