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Posted: 1/27/2017 9:02:32 PM EDT
[#1]
As long as you don't have much or any criminal history, you'll be fine. In my department we recently had a guy start in LE at about 35 years. He was very easy to train throughout the field training process.....part of the reason is he's a smart guy.....but a big part of the reason is he is more mature and has real life experience unlike some of our younger officers.
27 years old is fine. If you are thinking about joining the military reserves, my recommendation is to either start your LE job, work a year or two, and THEN join the reserves...or join the reserves, work a year or two in some non-LE job while getting used to the reserve duties (it's not just one weekend a month/two weeks a year as they present it), THEN get into LE. I would not recommend starting both at the same time. I've done both reserves (USMC) as well as LE. Just retired from the USMCR and am now focusing on my civilian career a little harder. It's hard to balance out both a military and civilian career. It can be done...but it's difficult sometimes and your family pays a lot of the price. |
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Posted: 1/27/2017 9:38:48 PM EDT
[#2]
27 is not too old. Being a military MP has no positive impact on civilian LE hiring you. Some agencies may choose to NOT hire you due to your military status, although they can't legally cite that as a reason for not hiring you.
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Posted: 1/28/2017 11:21:27 AM EDT
[#3]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
As long as you don't have much or any criminal history, you'll be fine. In my department we recently had a guy start in LE at about 35 years. He was very easy to train throughout the field training process.....part of the reason is he's a smart guy.....but a big part of the reason is he is more mature and has real life experience unlike some of our younger officers. 27 years old is fine. If you are thinking about joining the military reserves, my recommendation is to either start your LE job, work a year or two, and THEN join the reserves...or join the reserves, work a year or two in some non-LE job while getting used to the reserve duties (it's not just one weekend a month/two weeks a year as they present it), THEN get into LE. I would not recommend starting both at the same time. I've done both reserves (USMC) as well as LE. Just retired from the USMCR and am now focusing on my civilian career a little harder. It's hard to balance out both a military and civilian career. It can be done...but it's difficult sometimes and your family pays a lot of the price. Thanks for the advice. I planned on doing the reserves for a year or so and then starting my application process. What has been your reserve duties beside the weekend, 2 weeks a year? |
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Posted: 1/28/2017 11:24:55 AM EDT
[#4]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
27 is not too old. Being a military MP has no positive impact on civilian LE hiring you. Some agencies may choose to NOT hire you due to your military status, although they can't legally cite that as a reason for not hiring you. That's very interesting to hear. I had always assumed that would give me a leg up on the application if I had previous LE experience in the military. I don't personally feel I would have enough qualifications to get an offer right now. I work as an electrician and I do have more common sense than most of the people I work around but on paper I have nothing to really make me stand out compared to an other average person. |
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Posted: 1/28/2017 11:31:44 AM EDT
[#5]
27 is actually a good age to get into LE. Hopefully, you have some maturity by then that will help you. Also, if you have a 25 year retirement, it will time out just right on the big end. As far as the physical requirements, thats totally up to you.
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Posted: 1/28/2017 12:07:06 PM EDT
[#6]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
That's very interesting to hear. I had always assumed that would give me a leg up on the application if I had previous LE experience in the military. I don't personally feel I would have enough qualifications to get an offer right now. I work as an electrician and I do have more common sense than most of the people I work around but on paper I have nothing to really make me stand out compared to an other average person. Potential employers will look at Guard and Reserve personnel as potential losses during deployments. back before 9/11 all they'd bitch about is losing you for a weekend a month and two weeks every summer. Now they can quietly bitch that they'll lose you every 4-5 years for a year at a time. Oh, they know better than to bitch publicly. But they'll find some way to scuttle your application if you're still in the military. Military MP really has little to do with civilian policing, especially back in the day when they had separate MOS' for field and garrison positions. Yeah there's some bleed-over. Writing tickets, maybe going to a domestic or two at on-post housing. Field MP work? No correlation at all there. My secondary MOS was 31B but I was already in civilian policing by the time I got shipped off to that school when my state was doing one of its periodic reorg's as the states military personnel shrank through the years |
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Posted: 1/29/2017 12:24:34 AM EDT
[#7]
I was 25 when I began with my first department and 27 when I began with my current one. After 26 years in LE I am pulling the plug in April.
27 is far from too old. I've seen guys get in at 37 and have made a good career at it. |
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Posted: 1/29/2017 9:11:23 AM EDT
[#8]
I have a buddy who was a 31 year old Delta Airline Pilot who left to enlist as an 11B with an option 40. He's now a 34 year old Ranger Team Leader. It's never too late.
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Posted: 1/29/2017 9:51:30 AM EDT
[#9]
27 Yao, pfft I signed up for my SO at 48, academy@49, patrol@51
Mindset and working at it physically and mentally. Love the gig. Yea it's a young man's game on patrol but my "life experience" is a huge advantage as a rural deputy. YMMV Good luck in what ever path you choose...choose wisely. |
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Posted: 1/29/2017 11:22:39 AM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Thanks for the advice. I planned on doing the reserves for a year or so and then starting my application process. What has been your reserve duties beside the weekend, 2 weeks a year? For junior enlisted....not a ton more duties. But, if you want to progress up the ranks, you have to meet all the requirements. There are more and more online "training" you are required to do and you usually aren't going to have time to do it at drill. Then there are schools you can go to that will benefit your career and give you a larger knowledge base. Most military schools, depending on what they are, can vary from 1 week to 2 months (or more). Most are probably in the 2-3 week range. As you rise in rank, there are often monthly conference calls. Then some annual training ends up being 3 or more weeks. In my last unit, I sent a few guys to Jordan (the country) for a month as their annual training. I did 3 weeks in Ukraine for annual training a number of years ago. Then, there are some deployments that come up and you are usually talking about being gone over a year. Some weekends are long drills too. I did a bunch of 10 drill weekends (5 days). I even did one 18 drill weekend (9 days). Yes, it's more than just one weekend a month, two weeks a year. |
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Posted: 1/29/2017 11:37:08 AM EDT
[#11]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Yes, it's more than just one weekend a month, two weeks a year. Yup, the weekend a month and two weeks in the summer thing lasts til you're an E3 at most, and since 9/11 even that's not true, as deployments and the train-up for deployments has radically changed how much time you spend in military service. So everyone regardless of rank is doing more MUTAs every year than we used to... Back before 9/11, once you started having to go to the old PLDC course, BNCOC, ANCOC etc, all of the promotional schools, time invested started creeping up. PSG level, possibly section sgt's as well, you're going to unit admin nights, etc. Then there are additional specialty schools.. MOS reclass schools, or in my case the marksmanship schools if your unit cared enough to have trained people running their ranges instead of unit members just tasked with the assignment... OP, you might want to carefully consider which unit you're drilling with, and how far from your HOR the unit is. The Guard makes you sign off if you're drilling more than an hour from home, but we had guys commuting four hours or more to drill with us. That's a lot of driving for what at lower ranks is not-so-great pay. This will also apply if you decide to go the O route. The Guard demands a LOT from its officers, and most of our XO's and COs in my 22 years drove hours to attend every admin night, drill weekend, etc. Not to dissuade you from military service. I wouldn't change any of it for anything. Of course it looks better in the rear view mirror than it does when you're laying out in the swamp or on the block of ice they call a qual range at Ft Drum in January, or in the sandbox a million miles from home or at 0300 hrs when you're on some assigned post fighting to stay awake. The nation needs its citizens in uniform whether or not you agree with the politics of the guy who is sitting in the Oval Office during your enlistment term.. |
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Posted: 1/29/2017 2:34:52 PM EDT
[#12]
Bear in mind, I'm not trying to talk you out of it. LE often isn't the highest paid work so it's nice to have that extra income. Plus, in my state we are given 120 hours of paid military leave per year. It was really nice to get both those paychecks. The added retirement is really nice too along with paid medical benefits once I get to that age.
I truly enjoyed my time in (some more than others) and in the end, it was 100% worth it. I hear a lot of my coworkers talking about future retirement plans (those that actually think about such things) and a lot of them don't have a solid plan in place. My extra income from the reserves in retirement will be much of the difference between living paycheck to paycheck vs a comfortable retirement. I won't be wealthy in retirement but with my home paid for (getting there), maxing my two civilian retirements that my job offers, and my military retirement, I don't even have to worry about what social security ends up giving me. But, that extra financial security came at a price....and my wife paid the bulk of that price with me being gone so much. Look at all the pro and cons and decide if it's worth it. |
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Posted: 1/29/2017 8:57:48 PM EDT
[#13]
Thanks for all the info so far.
Lot of Intersecting points to think about |
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Posted: 1/30/2017 11:33:59 PM EDT
[#14]
25 was the avg age in my one academy. Oldest was 56.
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Posted: 1/31/2017 12:58:20 PM EDT
[#15]
27? lol. My roommate at detention academy 10 years ago was 65.
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Posted: 1/31/2017 1:23:25 PM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
27 is far from too old. I've seen guys get in at 37 and have made a good career at it. This. I went through the academy with a guy who was 39. |
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Posted: 1/31/2017 2:45:02 PM EDT
[#17]
Lately everyone we have hired has been around your age.
I was a MP in the Marines for 5 years on active duty. Every department looks at it differently, some had no interest in military experience and some did. The hiring board for my current employer made it seem that my MP experience was very beneficial to getting hired. Also everyone who is involved in tac units or anything involving firearms is prior military or prior LE, so some doors have been opened. |
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Posted: 1/31/2017 3:31:46 PM EDT
[#18]
I started at 30. Had a 52, 53, and a few in the 40 range graduate my academy! All of the older guys had either extensive LE or military experience. I was new to LE.
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Posted: 2/1/2017 11:41:34 PM EDT
[#19]
I was 29 when I got hired. If you haven't enlisted yet, don't. They will never say it, but it will only hurt your chances of being hired. Manpower is tight everywhere... If you will be gone one weekend a month, two weeks a year, with potential year long deployments, they will find any reason not to hire you. At 27, you probably have enough life experience to do the job.
25 is the best age to get hired. 30 years is the minimum for full pension and the minimum age for retirement is 55. In Illinois anyway... Good Luck |
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Posted: 2/5/2017 3:18:13 PM EDT
[#20]
27 is nowhere near too old. youre still a kid to me.
we've hired people in their 40's and 50's. the agency i used to work for regularly hired retired military vets so they were around 40 when hired. . IMO late 20's to early 30's to me is the best age to hire with all else excluded. not so young you still act and think like a teenager but not so old you think youre the smartest person in the room just because youre in your 50's. I taught a few classes through the years at a local academy and believe me it seemed the biggest problems in the class were from the old guys (40's and 50's) who thought they were always in charge of the class because of their age. some of them acted that way toward the academy director/teachers  the only time in nearly 20 years of instructing that i have ever threatened to have a student removed from my academy class was a guy like that. what a jerk. he declined my offer to teach the class so i could go home and be off like I was supposed to be though.
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Posted: 2/5/2017 7:21:20 PM EDT
[#21]
I started at 42 after retiring from the USCG. I just retired the beginning of 2017.
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Posted: 2/6/2017 8:00:59 AM EDT
[#22]
Thanks for responses, glad to hear all of them. I just submitted my application for the local sheriffs dept, hopefully I'll hear something.
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Posted: 2/6/2017 1:19:32 PM EDT
[#23]
I graduated the academy a month after my 30th birthday. I think I was the 3rd oldest in a class of 20. For what it's worth (which isn't much) I've talked to a lot of the FTO's at my dept and in general, the most squared away guys right off the bat, are the guys coming in, in their late 20's early 30's.
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Posted: 2/7/2017 12:20:13 AM EDT
[#24]
We have a 55 year old in the academy now. Dude got downsized from a tech company, watched too many episodes of "Cops", and signed up. He may hurt a little more in the morning after a hard PT day, but he's hanging with the young guys pretty well.
I have been a reservist for most of my time at the PD. It can be a real pain in the ass but you can make it work if you want to. |
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Posted: 2/9/2017 2:06:24 AM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
27 is not too old. Being a military MP has no positive impact on civilian LE hiring you. Some agencies may choose to NOT hire you due to your military status, although they can't legally cite that as a reason for not hiring you. That's what I was told when I went into the military if you want to get a LEO job don't be an MP! That has not been my case so far a lot of departments do like MP's maybe not in NY but go to LEO friendly places like Texas and they like that because you know how to do what takes most officers 4 years to learn! In all if your looking at military don't go MP get a skill! If you blow your knee out or shoulder as a MP or LEO what skills do you have to drop back on? Take this from a Grunt I can hump 20 miles with a 240G I can pick off a target at 1800 meters with a 240G! I was always point on any gun calls when I was LEO sad part is no one else but the other grunt I worked with would follow! No job skill there! Cool stories and three tours in Iraq is what I have to show for my years also messed up knee, shoulder, hands and eye! If you go military make them give you a job skill to fall back on! Any PD is going to respect you because your military not because of what you did in it (Unless you go to some special parts of a PD! But that not to make it in one!) Your not to old for going for a PD also! I was 28 when I went on my first PD! When I was at the Federal academy my room mate was 35 years old over weigh out of shape but f&ck that man had more heart then any 21 year old in the class! Made it all the way through also! Have the heart and will and you will be OK! If you want to do it then do it my friend! Military or LEO have any questions then IM me always ready to help! |
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Posted: 2/9/2017 3:02:42 AM EDT
[#26]
I got in at 30. Been serving for 27 years, plan on doing 5 more.
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Posted: 3/2/2017 2:23:09 AM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
27 is actually a good age to get into LE. Hopefully, you have some maturity by then that will help you. Also, if you have a 25 year retirement, it will time out just right on the big end. As far as the physical requirements, thats totally up to you. I started rookie school at 29. Still going strong 12 years later. Not quite burnt out, just a little charred around the edges. |
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Posted: 3/2/2017 4:27:37 AM EDT
[#28]
27 years old is the average age of new hires for us.
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Posted: 3/2/2017 8:46:33 PM EDT
[#29]
27? You're still a baby. I see guys in their mid 40's getting hired at area departments.
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Posted: 3/3/2017 11:01:37 AM EDT
[#30]
I went through the academy at 40, we've had guys that were in good physical health go through and do well at 50.
It's up to how healthy you are and how bad do you want it? I'm 52 now and I teach at the academy and do everything the cadets do physically. |
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Posted: 3/6/2017 7:36:40 PM EDT
[#31]
i recently entered corrections, at the age of 27. there has been almost no problems as of yet, and those that went through our class that were younger have mostly left due to (my opinion) stupidity and immaturity. a few officers were older (40's) and they are doing fine due to previous experience, but are less flexible about their time off, etc.
either way, even 30s isn't to old to start into LE. good luck |
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Posted: 3/7/2017 12:23:03 AM EDT
[#32]
I took some time off after 27 years. That was 2 years ago, I was 49. I'm going back at 51 for a few more years.
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Posted: 3/7/2017 8:46:53 PM EDT
[#33]
Honestly, I wish we could raise our hiring age to 25. A decent portion of this job is telling folks how to live their lives, and I would think we owe it to the public to have at least some life experience of which to speak.
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Posted: 3/8/2017 9:17:41 AM EDT
[#34]
Some of our best hires right out the gate have been older than 25/30. Most of them have made it on SWAT too for reasons that have been stated above. You shouldn't have much difficulty if you have a clean"ish" record.
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Posted: 3/12/2017 6:21:12 PM EDT
[#35]
I turned 21 in the police academy. Got 27 yrs on the street. Can retire now, but without health insurance. Got to have 30 yrs for health ins, so will do 3 more. After that I'm done. Had the economy not tanked I could have retired in August...
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Posted: 3/22/2017 1:54:42 PM EDT
[#36]
27 is not a bad age to start an LE career. Depending on the department you apply for, some give preference to military on the test scores. I got an automatic ten points on mine.
Being a member of the guard or reserve should not be a problem. Federal law says they have to allow you to attend drills and the usual two week summer camps and deployments if you're selected. The downside is they may not pay you while you're drawing a salary from the military. One of my sons works for a local FD and is a Msgt in the Air National Guard. He is currently on his third deployment to the sand box. |
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Posted: 3/27/2017 7:47:44 PM EDT
[#37]
I took an EMT-B class as a present to myself for my 50th birthday. I started working PT with a small, local paid 911 service. I liked it and moved on to EMT-I. I liked it and moved on to AEMT. Young kids were always bitching about how hard Paramedic class is/was. I mentioned to them that they had a unique opportunity and should consider more time studying as opposed to whining. One of them made the comment " you couldn't do it a your age". 53 y/o and I went to Paramedic class. I passed first go around. I liked it and quit my job/career of 25 years to go full time. It's no where near the same money. But, I like it and I"m happy again. It's never too late.
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Posted: 3/27/2017 8:28:20 PM EDT
[#38]
I'm 32 and just finished week 10 in the academy. I'm one of the older cadets, but not the oldest. Average age in our class is probably 25 or 26. Definitely not too late at 27.
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Posted: 3/30/2017 5:05:51 PM EDT
[#39]
27 is most certainly not too old. I was hired on at 22 with a municipal PD and five years later at your age I switched over to the feds. I was the second youngest in my class at Quantico. Many PDs do not have a max hire age. Feds do (gotta be in by 37 as a Special Agent). While I'm glad I was initially hired as a cop at 22, I was fresh out of college and had little real life experience. Those 5 yrs gave me a lot of life lessons and better prepared me at 27 to switch agencies. So no, you're at a good age.
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Posted: 3/31/2017 1:51:10 PM EDT
[#40]
I started at 27. Apply at a city rather than sheriff if you money is important. Especially a middle income type suburb. Not always the most exciting work but the pay is nice.
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Posted: 3/31/2017 5:50:42 PM EDT
[#41]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I turned 21 in the police academy. Got 27 yrs on the street. Can retire now, but without health insurance. Got to have 30 yrs for health ins, so will do 3 more. After that I'm done. Had the economy not tanked I could have retired in August... A guy in a neighboring agency just retired and he was telling me in his last month or so that his accrued leave time would pay for 20 years of his retiree health insurance. I was amazed..... |
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Posted: 4/3/2017 10:51:45 AM EDT
[#42]
A reserve at my dept turned 70 this year, still works 120+ hours a month on patrol. He got in the business at age 65......I wouldn't say 27 is too old
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Posted: 4/4/2017 4:20:17 PM EDT
[#43]
My brother went to work for St Lucie county fl S.O. st 40 yrs of coarse he fly helicopters for them. But he's grounded right now for medical reasons. He's 50 now and is a patrol deputy.
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Posted: 4/24/2017 12:37:11 AM EDT
[#44]
I started my LEO career at 27 YOA.
I did that after 7 years as an MP. I just completed my LEO career at the end of June 2016, after 32-1/2 years. It was fun, well, most of it, until the last two years. We got a new Chief, who was about 20 years my junior, who listened to "no-one". I saw the writing on the wall and pulled the ejection handle. I wanted to do another year, but decided it was time. So, 27 years old is definitely not to old. |
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Posted: 4/25/2017 11:28:21 PM EDT
[#45]
A couple of years ago someone here used me as a reference to become a state trooper.
He was in his early thirties and is now a trooper. When the state called me up to talk to me about this guy I specifically said that in addition to his character etc that I felt he was about the right age to begin a career in the state police. Personally I like seeing a trooper enter in either his very late 20s or 30s because they are generally a little more mature. IMO 27 is probably about right to start an LE career. Remember I am NOT a LEO and I am looking at this as Joe Citizen. YMMV. |
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Posted: 6/7/2017 12:01:13 PM EDT
[#46]
Your age is not an issue at all. A good number of departments would rather have someone a bit older with life experiance then a 22 yr old fresh out of college. I started at 26.
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Posted: 6/7/2017 12:16:30 PM EDT
[#47]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I saw the writing on the wall and pulled the ejection handle. I wanted to do another year, but decided it was time. |
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Posted: 6/16/2017 6:27:35 PM EDT
[#48]
if you can complete the physical entrance...doesn't matter the age
mentally, that challenges some guys sometimes |
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