Can your years in the Marine Corps transfer over to a police force? And how can I find out more on this?

Question

Example: you have 20 years of working. You spend 4 years in the Marine Corps and become a Sgt. You want to get out of the Marines and join a police force, and spend the 16 remaining years working as a cop and adding to your rank. Basically, moving from the Marines to being a cop, but not losing rank and having to start at the bottom.

I think I should reword this differently. I'm actually asking for my husband, who has two years left in the Marines. He has always wanted a military career, do his 20 years and retire and then work as a police officer. His buddy told him he could get out of the Marines after his four years and enter a police trainning program to become a police officer, and the four years spent in the Marines would count towards retiring from being a police officer. His thing is, he already spent 4 years in the Marines, so he has 16 more until retiring from them. But if those 4 years can also count if he were to become a police officer, he would rather do 16 more years as that...so Im asking if what his buddy told him was correct, or would he be getting out of the Marines and starting at 0 years and have 20 to go.

Answer 1

In general, you will hire in at the bottom as a deputy or officer. The reason is you have no "civilian" LE experience and you have no POST certificate. Even being an MP doesn't get you started above the bottom - you still have to go through the academy and get hired... Once in, you might be able to rise fairly quickly in the ranks, depending on how the agency handles promotions and testing.

If the question is relating to pensions and longevity pay, it depends on the agency...

Some will allow you to "buy" your military time to add to your LE time. Some will allow it to transfer straight over, while others have no policy on it at all.

California Deputy

Answer 2

No just about everyone starts at the bottom. By the bottom I mean a patrol officer. You may come in at a higher rank due to military service, college degree, etc. depending on the department. Highly unlikely you would come in as a sergeant since you have no experience in police work.

Answer 3

Maybe.

When I worked for the IRS, my Army years contributed to a retirement pension, but not rank. An artillery gunner is not quite an IRS Revenue Agent. One requires training in a 9-12 minute fire mission with a 2-minute march order and evacuation while the other requires a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting and countless hours in training.

Answer 4

You can use your military preference points once for hiring and once for rank advancement but as fas as pension , pay or anything else, not in Illinois.

Is a plus just ot have it to get hired and most departments will looks closer at a prior military.

Answer 5

You should get some type of points for Military service, but not in regards to seniority.