I'm curious, what is the draw to A Federal job as opposed to local? Pay? Benefits?

This is coming from a almost 14 year officer with a large Sheriff's Office in South Florida. I am currently a VCD detective working Homicide and have the opportunity to work with other agencies, including federal, often. I make good money and have good benefits.
Am I missing something?

whoops wrong forum. I hate newest discussions.

Bene's, pay, training opportunities, take home cars...just a few reasons that come to mind.

Limits on beefing, is one aspect. Pretty hard to find a Fed, IAD to beef to IMHO 

Does your Dept still offer a pension?

money, bennies and PERCEIVED prestige. Having been in LE for 14 years (Ive been in 22) you well know that rarely are Federal LEO, in any branch, cream of the crop.

I've worked gangs, narcotics and other task force stuff with several feds over the years and even they have admitted that. There is a HUGE difference between a street cop and a fed and the street cop will win the comparison (actual work wise) every time.

J-

I have all that.

Pension is Florida FRS state pension.

I looked st the fed pay scale and didn't see much difference in what I make compared to it (I made $135k last year).

Due to my location we have had an abundance of federal agencies lately and it reminded me that I was never really impressed. The FBI does have some great resources but that's about it.

Seeing the other recent thread about the guy looking to go fed had me thinking I guess.

I know a lot of feds that would never get hired by a big city local PD.
With the feds you can get transferred to other cities.

Feds always had more resources.

Less fun.

nothing really asmusing you have a pension, good bennies ertc


they offer more movement for new hires

so someone with a 4 year degree can start with say the BOP and end up with the DEA, ATF or a more "interesting agency" all while keeping the same pension start date.

This would probably be a big perk to most single fed leos.
Not only other cities, states, but other Countries as well depending on agency

I've been a fed for ten years now. I never had any intention of even applying for a federal job until one day when I realized I loved the agency I was at, but was looking at a long road before I could be promoted if I stayed there. Then I just plain became sick of MA politics and wanted out.

Let me be frank...the pay is one hell of a benefit. Compared to friends and family members in all sorts of professions, I can say that federal LE is the best-paying non-criminal profession where you can keep your sanity. Overtime is nearly unlimited, though this can vary by office and political climate. When I am on call, every time my phone rings is overtime pay, even for a 10-second phone call.

I come from the patrol world, and sometimes have to pinch myself to believe that I am getting paid about triple what I was before...and there's no more BS calls from drunken residents, shoplifting teenagers, late night car crash scenes in bad weather, foot chases, getting into fights, losing cases to slippery defense attorneys and a crooked system, dealing with the laziness of other cops, etc.

The downside of the office aspect is often long periods of time in the office with no field work or outside training, many cases move painfully slow, having to telephonically chase down people around the world (literally) to find out the status of something-- which adds to the time it takes to accomplish something and thus report progress to brass, occasional mind-numbingly poor training in a conference room environment, and probably a few other things I can't think of at the moment. Often/always being in the field as a CBPO or BPA may be far more appealing to many people than an office-based investigatory job. I admit I didn't know what I was getting myself into!!

I will some advantages add to that...TSP (Thrift Savings Plan), tuition reimbursement (though about 99.999% of the people I have encountered do not need it and come into the government already well-educated), takehome vehicles/choice of them as mentioned above, TDY opportunities, teaching opportunities, training opportunities, quality of most training, travel, working with generally well-prepared and well-educated people, having technology at one's disposal (you will come to value a reliable copy/fax machine as much as a good piece of high-tech tactical kit), etc.

Yes, there are some people who make it but just should not be in this profession, but they are getting weeded out faster and faster these days. Lately the influx of younger veterans has been a mixed blessing. Some people make it in who wash out quickly because they can't handle some aspect(s) of the job. However the pool of candidates is more diverse and we are getting people with some excellent skillsets that may be difficult to market in the civilian world.

Pay (GS-12 or -13 depending on job series), medical, decent retirement (crap when compared to NYPD though) and TSP are big.

My agency also makes it really easy to go overseas (if you're into that kinda thing) - we had a great time in Germany.

No, no you're not.

I should have stayed where I was.

I was a city officer for a year then a county deputy here in WV from 96 to 2000. Did 2 years with the state then decided to go Federal. After 15 years in, I miss the teamwork of the other departments, but the pay scale of the Feds is an entirely different thing. If I hadn't switched, I wouldn't be able to have or do the things I am able to on my current salary.
The vacation time and sick leave earned, promotion potential, and retirement benefits are the biggest plus I have witnessed. In 5 years, I can retire and go back to a county deputy job or city officer if I want. But why retire and go work somewhere else for less?

Depends entirely where you're at as far as pay goes. The pay comparison to a fed and a local in NY for instance isn't going to be what it is in AZ for instance. The local SO down here starts at about 42k I think and then it's a long road from there. I started fed at 31k (GS-5) and I'm sitting at 72k now 5 years later (gs-12). Put in some overtime today, $575 for 8 hours, kind of hard to beat for 5 years in. That said, my brother has much more fun as a local and I hate every aspect of my job except for the pay. As somebody else stated, I really can't imagine most of my coworkers getting hired on by a local or state agency. If it wasn't for the prospect of a massive pay difference in my locality I would have accepted an offer from a local agency and I wish I did a lot of days. That said, there are overseas opportunities and what not that just are not available at the local level.

I think the attitude of the feds being cream of the crop is something from a day that has long since gone.

Do you like mobility agreements?

You sound like a CBPO.

LOL

It depends on what you want to do.  If you want to work Street crimes, local LE is the place to be.

If you want to run around the jungles of Columbia burning drug labs...you can only do that with DEA.  Same with Terrorism, Intel, major fraud, and so on.

There are crimes that Federal agencies are better suited to.  Plus specialty jobs...recovering underwater radioactive evidence...I don't know many local agencies that can do that.  

Local LE has a lot of benifits though.  Having to move crushes your ability to build real wealth.  

The grass isn't greener, it's just different.

Huh?
NYPD is the lowest paid department in their area and therefore has the lowest pensions in their area. Cops on other PDs in the same city routinely get pensions that are double what a NYPD cop can get.
Some PDs in CA have cops that will get thousands more a month in pension payments than any NY cop.

Good guess, although I don't use the same username across forums like a certain somebody ;)

Not a salty one surprisingly, just pretty realistic about it I think. I'm not doing any of the fun stuff my family gets to do, but then again after 5 years on I'm making what my dad did as sgt and I work less for it too with a better retirement setup. Like I said, I think it depends on the area since there are some badass local agencies, but if somebody wants to go to Canada and have the feds pay for their kid's tuition while living in a nice house and all that then that is definitely something that highway patrol isn't going to offer. Then again, if you want to be kicking some doors in and what not there are fed jobs that have that going on but they're fewer than what your average kid at a career fair thinks obviously.

Sorry, should have said Nassau County... I have a colleague that retired from there with a six figure pension - that's not something you're going to get as a Fed.

LOL

Oh well, I've had this screen name for decades...  No one has found me yet.

At this point, I'm more than content with where I'm at.  I'm approaching the threshold of not caring about kicking in doors, I'll stick to the paid European Vacation Part II.

Yeah, guys on Nassau and Suffolk can get double what a NYPD pension is. I know a retired PAPD guy who's pension is just over $140k.

Completely different jobs, for the most part. The one main benefit to federal would be job security. Salary could be another depending on region.

Different types of crime, different types of law enforcement.

In simple terms, feds go for the big prize siezing huge amounts of cash and drugs and multiple arrests on a single indictment, or its not worth it. A 10 kilo siezure is small, a $150k siezure is small, arresting just one person is an incomplete case.

Most street cops will go their entire career and never stand infront of a table loaded with 50 kilos of product and $2 million in cash...

If you want to deal with a battered wife, a drunk from a bar fight, or chase a shoplifter for 10 blocks, then later the same night jump in the middle of 6 guys brawling at a house party,  then local is where you want to be. But along with that also comes things like directing traffic in the rain when there is an accident in the intersection, or filling out a report for said accident, then responding to a house for the 8th time this week for an aided case when the old lady falls out of bed... oh yea, and working rotating shifts, or maybe being stuck on the 4-12 shift for your first 3 years on the job...


Or you can work long term complex investigations that may span several years and take down 50 people in a drug ring with hundreds of kilos of product and millions in siezed cash and property. Or work International money laundering from a foreign nation while working undercover stationed in london... not something a local will ever do. You can work international investigations with MI-6 to take down a terror cell, or investigate a crooked politician thats on the take... Or work with multiple agencies to sieze the bank accounts of a foreign company commiting tax evasion.

With the exception of the NYPD, no state or local agency can match the resources of the feds, and even the NYPD while far beyond any other local, is still light years behind the feds. In the feds, if your own agency doesnt have it, a phone call to another will have in your hands when you need it.

Some feds do just as much door kicking as any local swat team, and some feds will never draw their gun in a 25 year career. It all depends on which agency you work for and what kind of agent you want to be.



I did a year with NYPD and then went to the feds. I got a significant raise the moment I walked in the door. I get more vacation and sick days a year as well... I never have to justify taking a sick day, I get every federal holiday off (or double time if I choose to work it), I work M-F and set my own hours.
No uniform inspections, no parade details, no accident reports, no domestic assaults, no traffic court...

It all comes down to what you want to do and where you want to be in 5, 10 or 15 years. If you aspire to make rank and move up as a state or local cop, the job will also change from being a patrol officer.

As a fed, you can change your job by just transferring to another squad within your office, to a new office or even to a whole other agency all while keeping your benefits and senority.

Nor will 90% of Fed LEOs either. Lol.

J-

I had a chance to work with the marshalls a bit, thought I might be interested in a job with them.  They had cool stuff and did fun things. Then I found out what fed LE is paid, no thanks.  Being forced to move is also a big negative at this point in my life.

After 9/11, the FBI started recruiting local cops, SF Bay Area, with degrees because they needed to up their numbers.  At the time, agents were making about $75k plus their location and LE availability pay (OT).  They talked to a guy in my department, but they're guys were working 60 hour workweeks, and it just didn't pay for a patrolman in my Department to go there, and our guy turned them down.  If I worked at a PD that paid $30K per year, if would look great.  They get cars, they get training, guns, armor, NV. etc. but at the end of the day, we get more money and work less hours.   Now, Task Force guys, they get all the benefits of the Fed gravy train and unlimited OT.  Pretty good deal.

I quit looking at it because of the possibility of getting moved around. Depending on the state a state level investigative position may pay about the same for much of the same work and will not move you around. If you are single, have an accounting or computer science background, and don't mind moving it is fairly appealing.

You can be a part of bigger cases and operations.  I suppose even the feds have the equivalent of knocked down mailbox calls.

He almost makes it sound glamorous.

Don't forget that your new fed HR dept will be manned by federal EEO/Affirmative Action hires and all that entails. I've never wanted to beat so much ass before in my life.

If you are a Fed you can spend 12 hours a day accomplishing 90 minutes of work to advance a case that eventually convicts two guys who serve two years after a 40 man task force spent $90 million over the course of three years.

But the opportunities for Fantasy Football and Netflix are rarely exceeded elsewhere.

Ya... I'm a younger guy and already bored out of my mind after 5 years, but the wife just got on as a CBPAS so the GS-24 (or 26) money will be too good to ignore as well as the preclearance/CSI opportunities.


It's really an ass backwards place but can't ignore those sweet overseas deals, or hell, even Canada.

Depends on the person and how do you delete the BS of the job with either one? I often wished I went Fed for the travel, the way you could go from agency to agency dragging your pension with you, myabe you could do different things, and most of all not have to deal with years on a ghetto beat car working midnights, night after night.

Ive known some very sharp Feds and some totally worthless municipal street cops. It all depends on the person. I wouldnt mind FAM for the training they get and the emphasis on shooting but damn that must get boring all those flights with nothing happening, yet still you have to stay sharp. But as a former street cop I cant really agree with the above. Your ability depends on the individual and theres also the fact that what you can do often doesnt mean shit in this Biz. You could be Popeye Doyal and they will throw you in the shittiest assignment they have if you have Boss's who arent worth a damn, as you very well might.

There is a perception about LE that drives people.  The perception is that locals will spend their career enforcing traffic, responding to domestics, responding to unruly shoppers, drunk/high on PCP people, etc.  You might make it to detective some day, but those examples are the meat of the job.  The perception for federal investigators (FBI, Marshals, DEA, ATF, NCIS, CBP, etc. I'm not referring to the fed LEO's that are more akin to armed security)  is that they will be building important cases from day one and investigating big human trafficking rings, big organized crime cases, national security cases, big child porn ring cases, big overseas international cases and the list goes on.  It's a perception and it isn't reality.  But that's the perception for a lot of people from the outside.  

A whole lot of federal LEO's started with a local department.  I would think that it would be best to ask them why they left local to go federal.

For me, when I did the switch from local PD to fed, it was virtually all about the money.  The benefits were similar, but my retirement now will probably be better than what it would have been there.  Plus federally you have more in the way of opportunities to move around (if that's your thing) than being stuck in the same city year after year.  With my old PD moving around to different assignments was quite political and old grudges could keep you stuck on a particular shift or assignment forever.  As as fed I can get lost in the noise so to speak.