I retired from LE last August after 27 years. I thought I'd have an easier time finding a second career that I would enjoy. I did a remodel job only because it was for a buddy (and it was my old house). Not something I'm a professional at by any means. I also did some armed security for a power company. It's hit-and-miss and they only schedule when they have what I'd call a remote job site. The one I worked at was a decontamination project on an old gas plant property that they were selling. Once their employees or contract employees are done, our job is until they get another similar project. It was an easy job, though. I wore plain clothes and sat in my truck and played on the computer for 8 hours at a time. Zero public contact.

Anyway, it's been depressing as hell trying to find something. I've looked into firearms instructor positions, including those for companies that do DOS contracts overseas; insurance investigator, emergency management, construction safety rep, etc... There's not one that I meet their qualifications. I've found that as a plain ole road dog, the only thing I'd qualify for is a Walmart greeter or security guard. Fuck that. I want to do something where I don't hate my life and want to suck start a Glock.

Oh. And some more things going against me:
No capital to start my own real business or go back to college.
No security clearance.
No prior military service.
I live in the sticks and am an hour and a half from the nearest city where there are more opportunities but I'm not in a position to move or willing to move away from my daughters.

Any suggestions for something I'm overlooking?

*cross-posted in the secure forum

Casinos are usually good. I've you get in there are so many departments to lateral move to .
Dealing cards is interesting if you don't hate ppl

Food delivery/Uber.

Did your agency not provide you with college or university education assistance/reimbursement/incentives?  Is your retirement not enough to support you and still have a little left over for school or an investment in a small business?

This is the sticks. Not the city.

Absolutely not. We were a small agency. Around 50 employees total including the jail, office staff, and court security. This isn't a big city.

And no. There's bills and child support to be paid. I can get by but that's it. Unlike those in GD, I'm not made of money. Never have been since day 1 on this earth.

If you’re a hunter or fisherman maybe start offering guide services?

Be a dishwasher for 250.00 an hour. fulltime.. Yes seriously.

https://careers.compassgroupcareers.com/dishwasher-full-time/job/23130059

The days of having to have a degree to make a half mill a year are over.

Holy hell... that equates to $520,000 a year. Wonder how far that could get you in NY. I know their cost of living is high, but thats a LOT of money.

How bad are you off financially?  Are you sinking?  Is this a Dave Ramsey I’m in debt and can’t get out?  Or just retired and want to work?  For me, that would determine how I would approach the situation.  Wolf at the door?  Time to do shit and take jobs that  I don’t wanna do. Even if temporary.  Or, can you afford to be picky and look around?  Doesn’t look like there’s much hope in your case, unless there’s room for flexibility.  Nothing to do locally, or semi-local, to make money? Expand the search .  And that seems to me that that’s what is gonna have to happen, all things staying the same.  Can you be a substitute teacher?  Drive a school bus or day care bus?  Handy man?  Seems like you have some kind of skill to work in the construction biz.  Good luck.
Edit:  I see you’re getting by, so not really sinking in quicksand, but not making progress.  I guess, just keep beating the bushes and good luck.  You can be afford to keep things the way they are or adjust your search parameters.

Take a look at your local community college.  Most are not very expensive and they seem to offer a variety of practical degrees like HVAC, Respiratory Therapy and others.

They might even have financial aid.

Check local universities for what they might have.  They often struggle to fill part-time slots and it's not exactly like working the wide open road if you know what I mean.  You get to work around a bunch of kids who are mostly trying to get ahead in life and aren't the demographic you have grown accustomed to meeting.  You're more like a very heavily armed Walmart Greeter.  

Also, you could look at doing part-time transport runs for about any sheriff's department you could imagine.  If you're willing to be a bit flexible it can be a decent retirement gig.  

Stay away from hospital gigs.  The nurses run amok in those places and are constantly striving to fulfill their next horny alcohol fueled fantasy.  

Don't do food delivery , I'm always hearing of guys getting robbed .Being in LE you know that so I'm thinking about after I retire and was looking at getting my CDL . There's a ton of work for that kind of driving . I'm sure with LE past you can pass a piss test and be bonded . Those types of drivers make good money and you could probaly find a company to work a couple days a week if you don't want 40 hours .

I imagine you have your reasons, and the public sentiment is sure not great in a lot of places, but what's stopping you from picking up a badge with another agency? Maybe part time? You have a lot of experience that you can put to work for you.

Did you suck at your job and were forced to retire? Usually people have some sort of plan when they take that step in life. Being old and unprepared means you get to be a Walmart greeter or live in tent city.

Get a job working for your township

I would take a machine class or buy a small saw mill. Maybe buy and repair cars on Craigslist.

There are seasonal gigs at national park lodges, cruise ships, ect that could be fun.

Seriously?  The guy did 27 years and you are somehow assuming he sucked at his job and was forced out.  The job market for retired LE is VERY competitive.  Most people assume it will be an easy transition, but find out shortly after retirement it is not.  I have heard from a number of folks I previously worked with in LE, that even with significant investigative experience, they still can’t find meaningful post retirement employment.  It’s not necessarily about being unprepared, rather the job market has greatly changed, especially when it comes to LEO post retirement jobs.





That is a typo in the ad.  There is no $250 an hour dishwasher, even in NYC.  As for jobs out there for retired LE, other than armed security, most want financial or computer crimes investigation experience.  And in most urban areas there are tons of retired LE with that type of investigative experience,so it’s not a shoe in when a job does pop up.  The job market for retired LE is tight unfortunately.  In a rural area, you might want to look into code enforcement or something else with a city or county.

OP I feel your pain. I was a street cop, and now I am a federal agent, soon to be retired. At least I’m a pilot, but as far as cop shit goes, I have a fucked up ankle, knee, and hip and as far as flying goes I’m getting to the point where I don’t know how many more flight surgeons are going to give me a medical to continue that and beyond that I have zero skills. Other than being the door greeter at Home Depot like you suggested, or possibly giving hand jobs in the park for cash I cant think of many options. I like cash.

Only fans

Nobody wants to look at my little balloon knot.

Around here guys that retire from corrections and LE usually want nothing to do in the field again.   Guys pick up “silly stress free jobs” for pocket cash and to get out of the house,mowing lawns at the golf course (free golf goes with it), delivering auto parts to local garages, transporting vehicles for dealer swaps or online vehicle purchases.  

I want light mental investment if or when I go back to work.   I have a couple open invitations, one for the auto parts company, another is in a machine shop loading and button pushing an automated milling machine.   No nights, no court, no duty belts.  Sleep in my own bed.

My retirement is enough to get by on for now.  I have investments that I can tap in to too but my plan is to let them grow another ten years.

My now retired Sgt does this, loves it... just funny to see someone else mention it

OK so apparently my drunk ass basically just double posted so I’m going to delete that and go with the onlyfans recommendation. That’s solid advice.

Few if any genuine "federal agents" walk out with zero skills.

around here church security is a big thing

Hey, Lawdog, why don't you start your own business? Work as much or as little as you want. You must know a lot of people. Figure out what you would enjoy and could maybe do for others and make a little money doing. Maybe landscaping or handyman work or something along those lines? I had a friend that did property maintenance for probably 200 little old ladies. It paid the bills and they trusted him. He was a decent, honest guy and did good work. Old ladies always need someone to fix dumb things and not take advantage of them. Who better than a retired police officer?

Just a thought.

I was in a similar situation. I went to work for the Army as a civilian police officer, didn’t like it, so I moved to the guards as a supervisor. Don’t really dig it so I’ll continue to be on the hunt for something else. My reasons may not be the same as yours as I have some factors involved in why I’m not digging it too much.
However, the Army or the DOD as a whole has some good opportunities. I have two buddies that retired from my agency before me and both took supervisor police jobs over in Germany and Guam. The ability to travel around, benefits, and career opportunities for retired cops can be pretty good not to mention the pay as a reformer gig. I’ll say being a guard checking IDs is so easy compared to street work, thus easy money. And no you don’t have to be a veteran to qualify for these jobs.

Guys with management experience can often walk into good jobs.  Those of us that are career GS-13s, not so much, generally speaking, unless as I stated you have a particular skill (like aviation in my case) polygraph examiner or at least anything that sets you apart from a run-of-the-mill, special agent. That’s why I am extremely thankful I have my background since I’m going to be leaving this shit show in the not distant future. That age 57 mandatory retirement is starting to loom a lot closer on the horizon.

I’m going to edit this slightly from last night. What I meant by that is with few exceptions we typically don’t leave government service with any specific certifications or anything. I’m fortunate that I have mine, but most don’t. It used to be you could leave the government and walk into a good paying job somewhere just based on your prior service, but it seems largely those days have gone away unless you happen to know someone that can hook you up. And agency brand recognition is huge. If you don’t come from the right alphabet agency (at least in my world), it can be a lot harder to land something good, or at least it takes a lot more effort.

@lawdogrd10
Sorry for the slight derail from my earlier comments but I was just thinking about some stuff…..

When I first got into LE at my very first department we had a couple of guys that just up and left somewhere around the 8 to 10 year mark that went to the railroad because apparently they wanted to drive trains more than be cops plus it basically doubled their salary. I don’t think either one of them had any specialized training or background to qualify for that and of course this was in the mid-1990s and I know jack shit about the railroad world but I always thought that was kind of neat how they just up and changed like that. Plus they let me ride along in a locomotive at a local yard when they were repositioning it for something so I thought that was pretty awesome too.

As far as the current guys in my federal agency that have recently retired, one is a GS 14 working second shift as a security guard staring at cameras for a defense contractor. In our case we all have top-secret security clearances so that’s what got him that job but I noticed you said you don’t have a clearance so that would most likely be a limiting factor at least for the higher paying positions.

My current boss can’t seem to get a retirement job despite his efforts but he’s got all kinds of irons in the fire. I think he’s holding out for some thing high paying so that’s probably why, and this is a guy that rubs elbows with a shit ton of very highly placed executives in and out of the government so it’s probably just him being greedy.

Another one that I’ve known my entire federal career travels around the nation in the world, doing firearms training for government agencies, and he seems to like it, but he’s gone away from home more than he was when we worked together as agents

And last, but not least is a douche bag GS 15 and retired Marine COL who wound up leaving our agency and stocking shelves at Buccees before he got fired. He now works at AutoZone, stocking shelves.  There is something to be said about that and it was mentioned up above that a lot of our guys don’t want to have anything to do with law-enforcement, or the government in general once we leave, so maybe that was therapeutic for him.

Anyhow, those were just a couple of thoughts I had last night about where guys have gone post government. Good luck in your search.  

If a GS-13 1811 walks out with no skills and certifications at 20+ years, they screwed up.  I don't care if they are from the FBI (largest) or OPM OIG (one of the smallest).  They either failed to network, or were that person hiding in the shadows doing the minimal mediocre work, or never went after opportunities, or never invested in themself, or were the problem child and pushed aside.

A decent agent works the network and opportunities. You make those connections yourself, they are not delivered in your lap. One has to volunteer for the details to HQ /task forces, crappy events, and opportunities. When they ask you go to a specialty course to fill gap, you say yes, even if you would hate it. You end up with a cert and after doing such, you make it a pivot point to something else. I watch morons all day say no to opportunities - CT/DT instructor, firearms instructor (which leads to armorer certifications), fitness coordinators (which leads to nutrition and other certs), digital forensics (high demand by private companies), technical/surveillance equipment training (leads to direct contact with manufacturers), etc. The list goes on. I have watched folks say - "I will go, but not in July. FLECT sucks in July." If one did not get asked to do stuff, then they should ask. OPM requires IDP's for a reason and with few exceptions getting training/experience in specialty areas is only has hard as one makes it. And if they still say no, why would one sit there and not move agencies? Because they either have poor ratings or don't want to change anything in their lifestyle but want all the benefits, like the guy in podunk nowhere who wants to go to bomb tech school and won't commit a rotation in NY or LA, or the person who wants to be a boss but won't got to DC for a rotation/detail.      

I worked at 4 agencies in 22 years thus far- started at super sexy big three letter agency, went to a smaller, back to a major 3 letter and landed at a smaller. I knew nobody when I started as GS-7 hired off USA Jobs. I worked hard, did my job and a little more, volunteered for anything and everything, and made sure I was always the "glass is half full" guy. I NEVER kissed a supervisors ass or played politics. It was impossible for opportunities not to present themself.  I also did not crap on my investigative partners from the smaller less known agencies and used every chance to liaison and build those relationships. I did not drink the "we are the only agency" or "we have to lead every case" Kool-Aid the larger agencies spew out. Its also amazingly easy to get retirement gig offers at a state or local law enforcement agency when you worked cases with them for a few years and have those connections pulling for you. Just went to a specific trade show and had two offers for six figure jobs "when you're ready".  

A lazy GS-13, 1811 with 20 years of investigative experience/interviewing, along with a CFE and/or ASIS cert (can get on your own if agency won't pay), is a $75K+ job for 40 hours a week with no heavy lifting in the virtual world. In person and closer to the coastlines, and that jumps well over six figures.  Again, contacts from 20 years should be helping one slide into these gigs. I don't know anyone who wants to work who can't get a relevant job.

Maybe us NY'ers are just a different breed.

I'm listening...

Nurses

Update with some positive news - After numerous rejections, I interviewed and was hired yesterday by a company that does OSHA compliance-type work. Some of the work will be in the hospital setting.

CONGRATS!

...or just hunt and fish anyway, and not guide.  

I haven't got to do much of either. I did get out and golf more last fall.

Thanks!

Good for you!  Glad to hear it.

The safety/Osha inspector thing can pay good. I know a guy who is a retired FF. He took a one semester class and got hired as a safety inspector for the power company.  Long hours but great money, I think he was making 200k when he left.

Also, the security positions at local power generating plants  pay extremely well, better than public sector jobs.

Wow! I'm going to work on getting my OSHA 30 and whatever else I can while I'm at it.

You're not alone. No one cares about our service. And being in the military doesn't seem to mean much either. Ask me how I know.

Tried applying for a court probation officer position. But they insist on a bachelor's degree. I guess 31+ years of dealing with felons was not good enough.

Have you considered truck driving?  There are a bunch of options.

Most free driving schools are for over the road (OTR) jobs where you can be out for weeks or months. Hell for most.

Some local (LTL) carriers have their in-house training. Yellow, FedEx Freight, Oak Harbor (and other regionals), R-L, etc. some call it dock-to-driver or such. Best to talk to a recruiter for each company as policies vary and even terminal to terminal. Most carry a 1-2 year driving commitment but I know Yellow is totally free no-strings.

LTL has two styles of driving. Line haul is terminal to terminal all night with occasional overnight in motel. City delivery is delivery to warehouses and stores, then go pick up freight from same to take back to terminal. If you can tolerate night shifts the line haul pays better and is pretty sweet. Pay varies from $24/hr to $35/hr. FedEx and R-L are at the top end. Regionals like Southeast and Oak Harbor are much more fun to work at, less corporate crap. LTL companies also have lots of non-Class A drivers for box truck deliveries.

Then there is dump truck (no free school I know of), delivery truck driver for lumber stores and rental equipment etc. Pay is much lower unless you can work into specialized equipment. This starts to get into non Class A delivery driving such as Amazon, UPS and FedEx package, auto parts etc.

Final idea is school bus driver. It is not as bad as you might imagine. Larger districts have their own driver training and testing. This gets you a Class B license with passenger and school bus endorsements. Schools lost a lot of drivers and pay has come up a lot. Probably around $25/hr now. The class B can also be used later for driving chartered buses to resorts or casinos (tips), airport shuttles, water tankers (with tank test) for quarries and construction, street sweepers, garbage trucks, roll-ons, etc.

Once you get any driving job it is easy to network with other drivers to get ideas and referrals yo other jobs.

Is there a Costco or Sam’s Club near you? They usually pay alright and there is a variety of options within the store. My wife has worked for Costco for nearly 20 years and enjoys it overall.

I retired at the end of January and applied for my upcoming job while I was still working. I have zero interest in continuing to work in anything related to law enforcement (security, bailiff or code enforcement).

I am fortunate I live near where Sig Sauer assembles their line of optics. It isn’t glamorous but I’m going to be working in customer service for them. My years of interaction with the public was a draw for them.

Good luck with your quest. Congratulations on retirement!

My step dad who barely graduated high school just retired from agricultural sales.
He bags groceries 3 days a week, will be mowing some lawns this summer, and is "project managing" for a concrete crew.

"pays for this fancy ass truck I bought."  

I was over 40 when I quit my career/s of 20 years and became a wildland firefighter. I felt like a kid again and really enjoyed training in something I knew nothing about.  I was about to become a firearm instructor at a local gun range and randomly my wife showed me a job opening for a forest ranger position.  It's fairly thrilling to drive a bulldozer into a fire in the middle of the night.
I have a fellow firefighter that started at 51 years old, they have a special retirement program for those of us that can't make 20-25 years.  If you like the outdoors I highly recommend forestry.
I've been in your shoes it's not very pleasant. Whatever you choose I pray you find peace and happiness! Wishing you the best of luck bro!

T-11.5 years until I can think about it, but this thread is relevant to my interests. I plan on being 25 and out… Screw the DROP. I’m over it, or at least, I’m barely over half way and I’m over working for “the big city” and all that comes with that.

Fire side, so my skill set is a bit different. I’ve also got aviation experience on the .mil side so that’s an option. I’ve no shit toyed with the idea of part time LE working for some small agency.

But every time I think about that I think about all the downsides of all of those things. Missed holidays, nights and weekends, the microscope of any “high regarded” profession like aviation, LE, or the fire service. Even the airlines, which would be quite lucrative still suffer from the similar stressors as the FD and LE.

I went through a bit of a mid life crisis recently and went so far as throwing an application at a few private sector jobs that sounded interesting. Holy shit it was nice to just submit my resume and some basic contact info. No crazy background check, they didn’t need to know 10 years of addresses, names of my elementary school teachers, etc. No polygraph or any time I’ve ever seen a doctor and what for. After my entire adult life spent in government service, it was refreshing. Of course it went nowhere.

Thinking about all that, I think when it’s time I’ll be 100% ok working at a Home Depot or better yet some small town hardware store. Between savings and two pensions, I should be plenty comfortable without working, and whatever else I do will just be my play money for guns and hunting trips.

Local guy retired Mil now does handyman services at $50/hr and has as much work as he wants.  He’s also dispatch for local LE part time as well.

I just went back to work after a year and half off .  37 years experience in various Rvee roles . Shipping receiving , customer service etc , line work too .

Everyone is hiring , so they say . I filled out plenty of apps . Had several interviews .

They all were like ya sounds good . Let me get my other manager and we ll call you .

Horse hockey and fiddle sticks . I called back to Lowes like 4 times and even went person to ck on my app .
Once I made it thru to the roving Hr rep and she said sir By the end of the day either myself or the store manager will call u back .

Bs , all of them can suck it . It’s all who u know . I finally scored a job in the medical field . Maintaining, diagnosing, repairing and delivering all manor of

Medical gear to residential setting*s and clinics . The pays not great . But it’s something .

Good Luck Op . TSA  is hiring but they got a lot of hoops .