Posted: 5/15/2006 12:12:41 AM EDT
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is anyone here a DEA special agent or familiar with becomming one? im interested in law enforcement and i have a special vendetta against drugs and would love to have them off the streets. can anyone help me with my plight? I was looking at their website and i saw that a four year degree is required. is there anything else that they will look for in particular. also where are most of them stationed? do they spend more time out on the streets or gathering intel, doing recon, that kind of thing. thanks for any assistance rendered. -T |
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I used to work for the DEA (not as an agent). You'll need your hatred of drugs for this job because that's all it is..drugs, drugs, drugs and a ton of seized assets. It's not like the FBI where you can go work counter-terrorism after you get sick of bank robberies. To my knowledge, there aren't any deep cover agents in the DEA. They do undercover work but it's generally limited to the time it takes to make the buy...no long term Donnie Brasco stuff. They look for experienced law enforcement officers and spanish speaking is a plus. The only guys I saw getting on right out of college either had perfect grades or knew someone on the inside. There are field offices and joint task force offices in cities across the U.S. and some overseas. Agents do spend time on the streets and are frequently on call. They also do surveillance and intel gathering but there's a whole division of intelligence analysts to help out. Be prepared to sign your life away, at least the first several years, as you get assigned to whatever field office needs you whether you like it or not. As a side note, I noticed very few agents able to stay married and hold a family together with any regular success. (Even by law enforcement standards). The nature of this work does not lend itself to family values. |
vendetta? plight? I dont think the DEA wants people who have vendettas or plights? Also the first thing that many DEA recruiters have told me is that the only guaranteed thing about the job is that you will never be able to clean up the streets, there are far more drugs coming in every year than they catch and they only put a small dent in drug trafficking. Plus catching every drug dealer would not be condusive to having long federal careers. If you have a vendetta against drug dealers and you view it as a plight i would suggest getting a cape and some super powers, otherwise you can get the phone number to a DEA office is your area off of www.dea.gov and call them to speak to a recruiter who can offer you more information. They are regular guys who work out of feild offices just like city police officers do. Just out if curiosity though, may i ask how old you are? |
Bro, you are the last kid that needs to question this guys intentions. Have you perfected your special shotgun shells loaded with airsoft pellets yet? 
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| The 4 year college requirement is so they know you will be professional enough for them. They are stationed all over the country but I hear there might be an opening soon in the Orlando area. A community liaison position in which you can fight the drug war during the day and give community presentations in the evening to inform youth about the dangers of drugs and weapons. |
Bah ha! Aren't you the same guy who posted about a month ago saying you were about to graduate from college, and the DEA was sure to hire you because you hated drug dealers so much? Didn't you say you were ready to start kicking down doors, because you had already been fighting your own personal war against drugs in your neighborhood? Seriously, you need to stop giving out LE career advice until you actually become one. But back to the original question, I don't work for the DEA, but like the other's said, they prefer prior LE experience in applicants. A couple of my coworkers are applying to the DEA currently. |
yeah but i figured since hating on subordinates is a Brothers of the Sheild Hobby, i would throw my hat into the ring and be a pesimist to this poor guy too. Yall love to critisize so i figure this would just make me fit in. Also most of what i said about the DEA is common knowledge. On a side note. Im going to the George R Brown convention center in houston tomorrow to apply for the Houston Police Department. I did a ride along with them a few weeks ago in a real bad part of town and i really enjoyed it. I bought a $270 suit and got a haircut today in case they let me interview with the out of town applicants. Im real excited about the process but the suit is going to set me back on getting my CCW for carry carry when i turn 21 on the 25th. Oh and i also got my grades back for this semester and i raised my GPA to a 3.0 so i might apply for the DEA as well as HPD. sorry for the thread hi-jack. for the origonal poster, there are a number of ways to enter the DEA as outlined in their website. They look for college graduates, ex military types with distinguished records, law enforcement, pilots, accountants, ect. They have career fairs at colleges all the time and DEA recruiters are there often to hand out packets of info and talk to those who are interested. If you would like to speak to a recruiter directly instead of listening to info from unreliable people on the internet (like me and a bunch of these guys) feel free to call your local DEA feild office and speak to a recruiter or ask when and where they will have another expo in your area. I promise that these guys are much more friendly and down to earth than many people think. |
Don't spend your Degree all in one place... 
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you must be highly threatened by people with little peices of paper called degrees to post such a big negative picture like that up. I mentioned a degree in about one half of one sentence and you singled that out to hate on me for. I wish you guys would go back to hating on us young guys for legitimate reasons like immaturity, niave idealism, lack of understanding about the "real world" out there, ect. and not the fact that we aspire to goals highter than some. I miss the witty NASA door gunner and door kicker remarks, it shows better on yalls experience and not your negativity. |