Law Enforcement?

Question

If you go to collage for 4 yrs and then becomse a police officer, what choices do you have like swat, or correctional or what.

Well is it possible to be sent straight to sgt. if you have your degree?

College*

Answer 1

Everyone who gets hired into LE has the same choice at first.

Patrol.

This is where you learn HOW to be a cop. You put in your time there, be the best patrolman you can be, and then after a minimum of 3-5 years, you can be eligible for a promotion or a special assignment.

If you don't want to patrol, Law Enforcement is not for you.

Answer 2

First things first, attention to detail is critical. We all make mistakes, but in your brief question, you misspelled college and becomes; and you forgot to use a question mark. I am not trying to be hyper-critical here, but it is an important detail to think about when applying.

Second, I beg to differ with the officer that stated having a degree won't matter. That simply is not true any more. Not only will a degree make you more competitive to get hired in the first place, it will help with promotions and pay.

Many agencies will allow you to top out in terms of salary faster if you have a degree. Plus, some agencies won't consider you for a management position such as lieutenant or captain without a bachelors; some even want to see a masters.

Patrol is not always the first step for an officer. If you become a deputy, you may work the jails first and then go on to patrol. To get into SWAT will require effort, but it is possible. Get to know members of the SWAT team and let them know you are interested. As you continue to work, always look for opportunities to train with the SWAT team and work hard in patrol or whatever it is you are doing.

Answer 3

Exilio's answer is the best of the above.

However, none of them actually quite reach the answer I believe you to be looking for, which is more or less this:

There are a LOT of law-enforcement agencies that do not require any college at all, but hire either straight out of high-school, or even without completing high school when necessary.

Further, contrary to how a college degree usually helps a person become more competitive in most other fields, there are many kinds of law-enforcement assignments where completing a college degree will wind up backfiring.

This is because of the very sad, but very true, fact that in any kind of potentially dangerous assignment, whether on traffic patrol and pulling over an unknown and potentially dangerous person, or on undercover 'Narcotics' duty, or on a so-called SWAT team, law-enforcement officers who have shown an ability to think and to reason things out, are unfortunatly also the law-enforcement officers most likely to wind up either in a ditch or gutter with bullet or knife holes, or most likely to still be thinking about something when someone in their sights is busy puttting bullet or knife holes into someone else. In dangerous assignments like these, the better personnel isn't the well-educated personnel, but the highly trained, not-gonna-think-about-it just-gonna-do-it personnel.

Further, should you ever wind up in that kind of dangerous assignment, should you become more thouroughly educated than your supervisors, they might perceive your education as a threat to their place on the proverbial totem pole, and begin to find reasons to get you reprimanded, demoted, fired, and/or arrested, proscuted, and convicted of crimes you had not committed.

In such situations, your education will not have made you more-competitive, but rather will have made you dangerously over-competitive.

There are, however, many kinds of assignments that not only require post-secondary education, but will hire straight out of college and NOT be one of those highly dangerous situations.

Many correctional facilities seek candidates with a significant background in psychology. Probation and parole officers as well.

Detectives and so-called CSI's and Crime Lab liasons are usually more successful when they have a strong background in sciences like Chemistry, Biology, and Physics.

The FBI, which is for all intents and purposes nothing BUT detectives, do most of their hiring with the intent of getting personnel with every possible kind of degree available, and usually won't even TOUCH an application unless there's a Bachelor's degree under the candidate's belt.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

In Chicago, the 4 years will help in getting promoted as long as you obtained your degree. Like a Sgt and above. However, it takes a phone call most of the time to move to a position like SWAT, Narcotics, etc... Good luck.

Answer 5

You would go straight to patrol. Aside from elements of criminal laws, you will learn everything over again. You will find it completely different. The degree will help later down the road but not at first. Rank advancement and special duty usually come with experience, time at the department, and performance.

Answer 6

Correctional officer only requires h.s. diploma.
What type of job you have within the police force is determined after you get on the force, you don't just say "I want SWAT" and they put you there. Depends on your skills and what openings they have.

Answer 7

Your degree won't assure you ANY assignment.. or rank.

Those will have to be earned... with time and promotional exams.