I began working in law enforcement part time in 2009. I loved every second of it. I was working 3 jobs at the time, single, no kids and just loving the excitement of police work. I loved doing traffic and finding dope. As time has gone on, that excitement has faded. I got married and had kids, bought a house, and now running the family business. I still work in law enforcement, but as an auxiliary (not paid but I come and go as I please) only a few days a month. I still enjoy the job (obviously enough that I do it for free), but I would never consider working full time. The hours suck, court sucks, you're customers are usually assholes, you see some dumb shit, you're always under the microsocope, no one backs you if you make a mistake and it seems like even the people you work with will throw you under the bus at any given moment. For me, over time, the bad has outweighed the good in this career field. However, I have a hard time giving it up, as it's been such a huge part of my life. But as life goes on, I have a harder and harder time putting on that badge. Why do I still do it? good question...I guess there is always the excitement, a little trip away from the normal day to day. I've always felt a calling to serve. Giving back a little bit to the community is important to me. And there is always the slim chance that maybe you can help someone out in a time of need. I feel like I'm needed for something. There's no other job like it that's for sure. Whatever you decide, best of luck to you, and thank you for serving.

Just make sure you get vested. Seen a LOT of folks through The years get a year or two from vesting  then leaving
You’ve got too much time invested to not eventually get SOMETHING out of it

Had a woman in the records room at my first agency quit with 9 years 9 months or so  on.  She would have vested at 10 years. Her LT literally BEGGED her to stay 3 more months. She was going to work for an attorneys office and he knew the attorney. He was absolutely certain the attorney would wait 3 months to hire her if he knew the circumstances.  She refused. She wanted another $2 an hour.

Less than a year later I walked into another agency to get something notarized and guess who was working there ? She didn’t even make it a year at her newer and better job before she left for basically the same job at her original agency

But then again she had 4 or 5 kids from different men and had only been married once so she had a history of very poor decisions

There are some very stupid people out there who don’t think at all about their future. I have a few of those in my family.

I won’t be rich in this job but I’ll be financially stable and as long as I have no debt when I reach retirement, I’ll be set.

I’m pretty happy at my job. A lot of people aren’t happy because their job isn’t the perfect job. Well mine isn’t either but I change what I can and what I can’t change, I refuse to worry about. I also view my job as scale. Good in one side and the bad in the other side. When the bad outweighs the good, it’s time to move on. As long as the good outweighs the bad, it’s worth working there.