Is it possible to join a police force abroad if i am british? I qould consider australia and america?

Question

I have considered immigration for a while and would like to work as a police officer. I was just wondering if it was possible for a Brit to join an american or australian force either from scratch or as a transferee. Thanks

Answer 1

I am a British citizen currently going through the Immigration process here in the United States. My wife is American so I am able to apply for Permanent Residency first and expidited citizenship later. I used to work for a Police Force in the UK and I would like to continue working in Law Enforcement over here. However, I have to wait until I have citizenship in order to apply to be a Cop here. I live in Kentucky and I have looked at the application requirements with numerous Law Enforcement agencies in the local area, Kentucky State, Fayette County Sheriff's Office, Lexington PD, University of Kentucky PD and even Tennessee State, Nashville PD and Knoxville PD and the requirements are all the same - you have to be a citizen first. That means that even as a Permanent Resident I cannot apply to be a copper here. Thankfully because I married an American citizen I will qualify for citizenship in three years as opposed to the usual five years it would take if I had emigrated by some other means. Unfortunately, there are plenty of American people wanting to be cops so it isn't listed as a skill in demand that would enable you to qualify for a work based visa. On my time on the job in the UK I knew of quite a number of Officers transferring to the New South Wales Police in Australia. Because the Aussies were having trouble recruiting they were offering citizenship to British cops in return for a straight transfer but you do have to be a Police Officer before they'll consider you.

Answer 2

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RE:
Is it possible to join a police force abroad if i am british? I qould consider australia and america?
I have considered immigration for a while and would like to work as a police officer. I was just wondering if it was possible for a Brit to join an american or australian force either from scratch or as a transferee. Thanks

Answer 3

Don't know about Aussi land but I do know of a few British cops in the USA. A couple were interviewed on some cop show over here and they said there were a couple surprises. The judicial procedures were quite different. Almost no foot patrol beats, everyone was in a vehicle. The firearms training was great fun. The two things they thought were the same; criminals here were just as stupid as they were in Britain and the paper work "muddle" was about the same.
If you want to try your luck, check out the American Embassy. Might also visit the web sites of some of the departments you are interested in joining. Contact them about a possible transfer.

Answer 4

In a word, yes.
I have a colleague who has just been accepted into the Australian Police as a transferee.
I don't see any reason why you couldn't join from scratch but it may be harder to do and you would certainly need citizenship, in Australia for sure (and probably most other countries) as you are policing the citizens of the respective country.
Check the Internet for the force you are thinking of joining. My colleague did and now she's waiting to leave the UK.

Answer 5

I would say that it would be quite possible. In my state you'd have to attend the police academy for 3 months because all police officers have to be certified every 3 years.
I would also suggest a city like the size I work in, maybe 40,000. Places like New York and LA are zoos. I have the utmost respect for the coppers there.

Answer 6

You will need to train hard by consuming at least 15 deep fried doughnuts a day until you can barely waddle. You will then have to pass a strict test which includes screaming " Get out of the car, Get out of the car now, and lie on the road " to an old lady who has a brake light off, before tasering her a minimum of 3 times before handcuffing her hands behind her back while calling for back up.

Answer 7

Both Australia (NSW) & New Zealand have recently had campaigns to recruit British Police Officers- training is from scratch, but you can usually carry rank.....the pension systems are not so good though

Answer 8

Australia would be easier. To get US zitizenship and a work permit you have to show you are willing to do a job that a US citizen is either unable or unwilling to do, and thats going to be a major hurdle. Contact the Australian embassy for details about mving there, itll be easier for you as a British citizen

Answer 9

I'm Italian, in Italy I was a police station commander.

I live in AZ and I can tell you for sure : to apply for any government law enforcement, included TSA, you must be American citizen, I know because I tried already.

The same if you apply for some private security company that works for government, or for company that work for government.

Answer 10

It would not be impossible but very difficult and complicated to join US force.I applied to an Australian force some years ago and found them extremly helpful they even sent info on local house for sale/rent etc. and seemed very keen on assisting recruits from UK to immigrate.