Law Enforcement... College???

[Kayla]

Hello everyone. I need your help. I have recently been accepted into a program that sends letters of reccommendation to any college(s) of your choice. I am looking to become a Police Officer, and I am wondering if any of the other Police Officers on the board.. or anyone else for that matter could recommend a good Law Enforcement College. (I'm pretty sure that there is such a thing... I did an internet search, and it brought up quite a few listings, which brought me here to ask you guys before I started reading them all!) Thanks in advance for your replys.... I REALLY appreciate it!


Kayla

 

[Bob3]

Check out your local Technical College, (vocational school).

They probably offer a 2 year cert that'll leave you at least as employable as a 4-year college, where they feed you a lot of "fluff".

Keep in mind that a lot of public service jobs have been negatively affected by budget cutting, check around & see what the job availability is.

 

[XJae]

Town, city, state, federal?
I imagine a two year or tech would be a good start for town/city.
The FBI or Treasury dept. (ATF, Customs, IRS, Secrect Service) will accept accounting and law degrees.

 

[Wendy]

Here is Florida in order to become a police officer you must attend a police academy. There are often academies located in the 2 year community colleges or technical schools. The academy asts maybe 6 months to a year. But the academy is completly different from going to college. Most if not all police agencies that I know of require at lesat a 2 year college degree AND completing a police academy in order for you to apply. The some places will waive the college degree if you have prior military or law enforcement experience, but you still have to attend the academy. I know this is similar to how things are done in other areas of the country. Some of the larger police agencies will sponser applicants to the police academy, but again you need at least a 2 year degre or military experience.

So my suggestion to you would be to research the law enforcement agencies that you would be interested in working for and see what they require to get hired. Go get a 2 year or 4 year degree (law enforcement degrees would be like criminal justice, psychology, sociology, politcal science, but your degree can be in anything) and then either get admitted into a police academy or find a police department you want to work for that offers sponserships, so they will pay your academy tuition and may even pay you salary while you are attending. Also if you are at least 18 years old, check and see if you can do a ride a long with a local police department to see if this is something you really want to do.

 

[Dryglove]

Wendy hit the nail on the head. Some departments here have what they call an explorer program which is kind of like ride alongs but you wear a uniform(you dont carry a weapon or a badge ). You are assigned to an officer and learn about the job and grooms you for law enforcement should you choose that route. Goodluck!!

 

[Kayla]

Thanks everyone.. I really appreciate your advice!


Kayla

 

[Wendy]

Kayla once bubbled...
Thanks everyone.. I really appreciate your advice!


Kayla

Kayla,

Because of your age I think that the best route for you at this time is to see if your local police department or sheriff's department has a Police Explorer Post. Explorers learn the different functions fo the police department and compete in national competitions and is open to high school students ages 15-20.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Two year technical programs are heavier on patrol and procedure type of classes. A Bachelors program in criminal justice, criminology etc may not get you hired any faster but may be beneficial in the long run. A BS program is much heavier in law and legal theory and in my experience new BS degreed offices on average make better decisions with fewer non prosecutable arrests than AA degreed officers due to better understanding of the finer points of the law

How much mileage a college degree gets you varies from dept to dept. I have seen some where college boys were not well liked at all. These are often departments where the traditional approach to law enforement is being forced to change and where the pressure is on to hire college grads.

You also need to consider what type of law enforcement you want to go into. Enforcing the law and holding the line in a large urban area requires an entirely different approach and set of skills than maintaining order in a small town or rural area.

In SD, you can work as a police officer for 12 months without being certified. The expectation is that you will attend the state run police academy within that time period. If you are not certified your options are limited to working in a small town for low pay. The upside is that you get sponsored for the academy which is not open to individuals not affiliated with a police department and can go to a bette rpayiong job in a year or so.

There has from time to time been discussions about allowing qualified individuals (with law enforement related AA or BS degrees) to attend the academy on their own, but this never seems to come to pass, so unfortualtely it means your first job often pays badly.

 

[Brandon]

Here in Alaska, we have the Explorers as some of you had previously mentioned, but also a couple other programs.

I currently work as a Community Service Officer for the University Police Department here in Fairbanks. Our job responsibilities encompass a very large variety of tasks, but our motto "students in partnership with the UAF PD" really sums it up well.

We are non-confrontational in nature, so that excludes us immediately from some activities, but other then that, we are directly involved in most aspects of the Police Department. We have our own set of responsibilities, but also have the blanket responsibility of assisting the police officers when needed.

Most of the students who have come out of the CSO program have gone into policing, often very easily. The experience working with the Police Department is invaluable for someone seriously considering a career in law enforcement. It also helps that working here gives you an almost guarenteed recommendation from our Chief of Police.

Other police departments have Volunteers in Policing, which essentially the same program, except it usually is unpaid.

It's worth checking into, most likely they have some sort of program like this in your area. It has to be about the best experience you can get in Law Enforcement without actually being a police officer.

You can always PM me for more info,
-Brandon.

 

[unit240]

The way I see it, it is a waste to get a degree in Law Enforcement. By all means get a degree, but make it something that you can use in case you find that Police work isn't really what you want to do or something should happen to you and you can't continue your career as an officer. You don't get any extra pay or consideration for a law enforcement degree with the agencies that I know of. Here a degree is a degree, whether it is basket weaving or accounting, etc.... Good Luck.