Hey guys, been a while since I've been on here. So the title pretty much sums it up. I've spent two and half years here in the 82nd and in 10 months it will be time for me to ETS. When I come home I am wanting to go the law enforcement route, with interests in the Detroit/Detroit metro area. With that I have a few questions. Are there any LEO's that can give me a few tips on things I can start doing now to help make things transition easier come next March. Also, is being a police officer in detroit as bad as it sounds? I'm also open to the option of joining MSP and I've also started to contact OU and UofM so I can go to school and get a criminal justice degree in case I decide to go the federal route. What other advice would you guys have?  Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

Edit: forgot to mention that I have no experience in LE. I'm a FISTer, haven't spent any time as an MP

Use your GI bill to get an Associates Degree in Law Enforcement.

Start swimming for your workouts. Most Michigan State Police cadets washout because they are unable to meet the swimming criteria.

Law Enforcement positions at the major Universities are among the highest paying/best benefit packages out there. They also have some of the best duty. Drunken sex crazy teenagers, although obnoxious, rarely require Tazers or gunplay to render them harmless.

Detroit would be my second to last choice for a Law Enforcement career, second only to the south side of Chicago. Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor all have excellent pay and benefit packages and far fewer problems. They still have serious problems, but nowhere near the scale of Detroit. Many rural departments and small cities have pay and benefit packages that are almost insulting. If you're going to be in harms way make sure you are getting paid a living wage at a minimum.

The Border Patrol along the southern border is begging for new hires. It would be a good place to get some experience, understanding that their budget can be cut or mission change at the whims of any new administration. BTW-I am not employed by them or any other agency. My tag name is based on my support for defending the USA from illegal entries from any nation. Legal immigration is fine, ignoring our laws is not.

Good Luck.

Thank you for the response. I was unaware that university police get paid well. The main reason I considered Detroit is because I want to do something with narcotics enforcement. Ideally I would like to do narcotics enforcement in Oakland county since that's where I'm from and where I'm going back to. I considered border patrol and am really interested in DEA, but I my wife and I are not really fond of the near guarantee of relocation again. We would like to stay in michigan once we go back. Originally I wanted to do marine or aviation Border Patrol along the Michigan/Canada border, but like I stated DHS doesn't guarantee I'll stay in Michigan.

I would highly recommend you get a degree in something other than criminal justice. You don't need one to be in LE and you'd be better served with a different degree if you ever want to leave or retire. A lot of our guys have MBAs, psych degrees, etc.

This x87.

FIFY. Been in LE for 20+ years. You can be a cop with ANY degree but its hard to do much else with a CJ degree.

As for going into LE, look at doing something else, seriously. Shrinking budgets and bennies plus none existent retirements and retiree healthcare for people getting into the field now a days, even in well to do cities. Not to mention the political and social climate. In the end you will do what you want but just think about it.

Just my two cents based on my experience.

J-

Yes, get a degree. No, do not study CJ.

If you go federal, you have to move to move up. Also realize most of federal work is nothing like what you think it is. I'm assuming you'll have Veterans Preference going for you so that'll help a bit, but so do a lot of other people.

If you want to kick in doors, go be a big city cop. Don't expect to get on any special teams or tasks forces for years, but it's certainly not impossible either.

If you don't have the time and money to pay for your own academy, DPD is a place to start. Just don't stay too long. Troopers have their own academy too, but I dunno why anyone wants to hump the highway. Yeah, I know, there's so much more to the State Police.

Overall, it is a good and bad time to get into law enforcement. Bad because of the political, economic and social climate. Good because a lot of departments are having hard times finding decent, much less excellent candidates so it's possible to have departments compete for you. Of course, a lot can change in the next year, plus time for schooling and academy.

The best advice I can give you is realize that no matter how exciting a given career may seem, in the end it's just a job. The newness wears off. Don't let your job define who you are, a job is simply a means to procure the money you need to live the life you want.

Best of luck to you!

Most Dept's are having budget issues and even the "rich" cities (Ann Arbor, Bloomfield etc) are cutting vacant positions through attrition which means MORE competition for less. We are routinely getting 50 apps per 1 vacancy, so we are in the position to pick and choose not the other way around. Our last round of hiring more that 70% of the applicant had at least a couple years of LE experience.

J-

I know Oakland certifies their Corrections deputies to eventually get their MCOLES and move them over to the road.

Also, corrections positions are always in high demand, but with much less desirability heh.

Also, I agree with the rest of the posters in this thread in regards to degree, political climate etc...

There is good departments out there, but they are obviously in high demand on people wanting to get in. A lot of the smaller and rural agencies are starving for people, but they pay starvation level wages and garbage benefits.