Tips???????

[Ghost]

hello everyone,
i am 16 years old and After attending the Mass. State Police student trooper program i have decided that i really want to be a cop however i have talked to alot of my older brothers friends and and a few relatives who have tried....unsuccessfully to become police officers. Is there anything that i can do, specifically, to become a cop. What exactly do police departments look for in a possible canidate? Thanks

[Sharky]

Common sense, maturity, and no criminal record.

------------------
F.I.D.O.

[mdb23]

Ghost,

Sharky is dead on. The best things which you can do at this moment are:

1) Develop a record of reliability. Don't job-hop or get fired from any job, no matter how insignificant or unsubstantial you may feel it is. Take your education seriously. Show up on time and work hard. Also, be responsible with your money. If you cannot manage your own affairs, how can you be expected to solve the disputes of others?

2) This should go without saying, but stay off of drugs and alcohol!!!!!!!!!!

3) Maintain a clean driving record. I had friends in college who were unable to find work in LE due to excessive violations for speeding.

4) Choose your friends wisely. Simply put, if you hang out with knuckleheads, you are going to look like a knucklehead to anyone investigating your background.

5)Finally, whatever you do, DO NOT MAJOR IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE!!!!!! Major metro PDs don't care what your degree is in, and the Feds certainly don't give preference to CJ majors, so choose a course of study that will benefit you if you decide that LE is not for you. Believe it or not, once you discover what LE is all about (pedestrian checks, car checks, and calls for service) you may not like it. Therefore, you should choose a major which will benefit you if/when said realization occurs. I hope this helps. Take care.

[Ghost]

Thanks for your responses guys. Especially the tip on not have cj as a major because i was considering that as my major

[wannabe]

A couple of comments;

First, the criminal justice thing. I can buy that it doesn't matter much in the metro areas, but in the sticks it seems to matter a lot more. My friend Joe D. spent a lot of time applying in Mass, CT, and ME and was told that it would have helped him (he had a BA in film). By the same token, it didn't seem to be a must have.

Second, make good friends and references. Volunteer in your town, see if you can get grunt work at a PD. Once Joe got in and actually got involved in the interviewing process, he found that they really do pay lots of attention to references in the community, and your friends are the people that they call for background checks (and some of them worked real hard to trip me up, fortunately Joe's a straight arrow).

Oh yeah, and work on interview skills. It seemed that if stuff is going to derail, it's when you sit in front of the Sgt. for the interview or oral.

And don't give up! It takes a lot of people a couple of years of butt-busting to get in, and a lot of frustration along the way.

Matt

[SGT_GRUNT_USMC]

test

[SGT_GRUNT_USMC]

Ghost,
You might want to consider getting hired
by the Massachusetts Department of Corrections.We're are continually in the
hiring process.I'ts easier to get hired
as a CO (correctional officer) than as a
police officer in Massachusetts and the pay
is in most cases much better.
And we have all the specialized teams (SWAT,
K-9,Fugitive Apprehension,Honor Guard,Special Investigations,etc,)It's also
a good "stepping stone" if you want to go
to the State Police.Two friends of mine that
were officers here at Walpole left for the
State Police Academy last month.

Semper Fi,
GRUNT

[Mike]

IIRC, many police officers majored in psychology and sociology (where criminology is under). BTW, some small cities police force required some large cities's experiences or vice versa.

to Grunt, is the honor guard for the VIP prisoners or the warden?

[SGT_GRUNT_USMC]

Mike,
Good sense of humor!LOL!No actually the
Honor Guard represents the dept. during
offical functions like National Correctional
Officers Week,funerals for correction/police
officers killed in the line of duty,details
involving the Governor.Last year they won 1st
Place during a competition involving more
than 50 law enforcement agencies throughout
New England and the Northeast.So there pretty
good.....but still along way from being the
U.S. Marine Corps Silent Drill Team.

Semper Fi,

GRUNT

[WS-G]

Don't job-hop or get fired from any job, no matter how insignificant or unsubstantial you may feel it is.

I think we can all see what you're driving at mdb23, however good reasons exist for floating from one job to the next.

For example, those who work in the construction industry are typically employed only on a seasonal and temporary basis, for the duration of a given project at longest, if even that long. Here, "long-term" employment can often mean that your job-du-jour lasts longer than a week.

For individuals in that occupational category, there is nothing unusual about working four or five months, getting laid off, spending a few weeks "between jobs" — or grabbing whatever "off-the-books" odd jobs pop up — before finding another full-time (if only temporary) job with yet another employer.

In the aforementioned scenario, it is entirely possible to be a proven, exemplary performer on each job held, yet end up getting rubber-stamped Unstable Employment History (this happened to me with two agencies). If this happens to you, simply realize that you are dealing with an anally hyper-retentive pogue (er.... "bureaucrat"!) and say to yourself "Screw them!" as you press on and find your self another department; there are always other agencies out there.

My opinion: in this age of temporaries — from the floating CEO down to the day laborer — having spent less than a year at any given job is becoming less of a "red flag".

[mdb23]

Mr. Salter,

I believe that we are comparing apples and oranges. In my original post, I was referring to what seems to be an ever too common practice (at least among younger individuals) of changing jobs every two to three weeks, or days for that matter. For example (and this example, embarrassingly enough, is based upon the behavior of one of my younger relatives):

"Well, I was working at Burger King, but then I found out that McD's pays .15 cents more, so I got a job there. But McD's wouldn't let me off on Friday for this party so I quit! I can always find another job."

It should be noted that this occurred within a one week period.

There are exceptions to every rule, and I will allow that construction and temp work would entail transitioning from one employer to another on a frequent basis. However, I was speaking more along the lines of having/quitting three jobs within two weeks, without giving notice, simply because "It's just a fast food joint/department store , who cares?"

mdb23 will be 10-8, HBO (Handled By Officer)

Stay safe!!!!!!

[This message has been edited by mdb23 (edited 08-15-2000).]

[WS-G]

An excellent point. The two case history examples cited really don't compare, however if one's background fits the profile I gave as an example, be prepared to do some serious, in-depth explaining just the same.

CAUTION: if you plan to go the "self-employed" route for any length of time that you're between "real" jobs, keep records! Make certain that you are able to account for your time during these periods, document how you were obtaining whatever money you made, and be able to come up with some people who can verify it (other than somebody related to you).