Posted: 12/1/2008 2:27:06 PM EDT
Just 3 weeks left till I'm done with school  !!!!! I'm in an L.E. academy at a community college , I know its not the traditional route like going through a "city" academy, but this way I'll have the chance to "choose" where I would "like" to go after I pass the state test in Jan. 09, even if I do decide to go with a large metro pd like San Antonio, Arlington, Houston etc.... at least I'll be certified and be ahead of most of the rest of the class at the academy!!!
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Good luck. the light is at the end of the tunnel.
I went through a seperate academy too. In michigan there are only two agencies that have their own dedicated academies (Detroit Police and The State Police). Everyone else either picks up pre-service recruits (put themselves through the academy) or agencies sponsor a recruit through an academy (there like 8 or 9, other than the DPD and MSP ones). Sponsorship is great if you can get it but in these economic times even the bigger agencies are not paying for people to go through the academy. Nice thing about putting yourself through, like you said, is that you can keep your options open while getting hired. Good luck and the fun hasnt even started yet! J- |
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Quoted:
Just 3 weeks left till I'm done with school !!!!! I'm in an L.E. academy at a community college, I know its not the traditional route like going through a "city" academy, but this way I'll have the chance to "choose" where I would "like" to go after I pass the state test in Jan. 09, even if I do decide to go with a large metro pd like San Antonio, Arlington, Houston etc.... at least I'll be certified and be ahead of most of the rest of the class at the academy!!!
HCC The only difference is that you will not have to take TCLEOSE when the time comes. You still have to go through their academy, at least for HPD. Hopefully you can finish first in the next academy you'll have to go through so you can get first dibs on shift. |
and take the TCLEOSE test in Jan.!!!!|
Grats !
As for career choices, may I make a recommendation ? (all IMO) Go with a big city dept. - Easier to get hired. Cities hire all the time, while some of these small towns hire like 2 guys every 5 years. Even if you want to end up in a small town, it'll give you something to do in the field while you're waiting, and they'll save the initial training expense. Good selling point. - More experience, faster. In a city, you might handle 20x the jobs that you'd get in a small town in the same amount of time, plus some stuff that you'd never see. If you want to go to a small town later, that's another good selling point. (And you can spend the next 20 years boring everybody with war stories about "when you worked in the big city ! 
- More opportunity for advancement, if you stay. Some of these small PD's, you have to wait for somebody to die to get promoted, and then you're behind someone's son-in-law on the list. Big cities promote all the time. Best wishes in whatever you do 
just my .02 |