I have been riding with the department I am applying to, some officers really seem to love it but I have noticed that quite a few are burnt out. Maybe its the long hours, the weird hours but to me it just seems like it would be very rewarding and interesting.

How was the academy? Seems pretty similar to active military life, which I know from experience can be tough on family...

Nah.

Yup. Depends on agencies, some are more aggravating than others.

Quoted: Maybe its the long hours, the weird hours but to me it just seems like it would be very rewarding and interesting.

You can only get that warm and fuzzy feeling so many times arresting the same old folks before it wears off....

What chaps my ass is having to deal with folks, who by their own behavior and/or actions, placed themselves in a postion of being a victim.  Many times, it's the same old "victims" that you end up dealing with.

Just MHO, but there's nothing on the street that I can't deal with.  It's the internal stuff that will give you gray hair quicker than anything - having to wear long sleeves when it's 90 degrees out, getting fussed at because the computer eats a report (like I f***ing caused the underpowered Chinese piece of sh** to do that), having to write a memo because you parked on a sidewalk for a hot call even though there's a specific section in the state code that allows you to....I/we could go on.

Right now, I'm in the child abuse division of our investigations unit, and I have on my desk, among others, a DOA of an 8 week old, a rape of 16 year old, and a pretty nasty abuse case involving a toddler, not to mention about twenty other active cases that I am on an equally tight deadline to work.  I dig in and do what I can, and truth be told, the cases don't bother me much.  Having some a-hole coworker take the keys to my Taurus five minutes before I get a tip on where one of the perverts I have been hunting all year might be hiding, causing me to run around and beg for someone else's car keys, all because someone's too lazy too walk the half block to their own car, and there's a standing order that we will (ie everyone, not optional) put our car keys in the key box during our shift as soon as we get back to the building, regardless if we're going back out in ten minutes or four hours....yeah, that gets me a little mad.

I need to go stand up for a second.  Any IM's will have to wait a few minutes.

Being the only K-9 officer in the PD and working in a small town PD, I tend to get called out a lot b/c we have a major drug problem.  Long hours, we work 4 12 hour shifts in a row, and I usually get called out on my days off if I am not working OT.

Report writing gets old after a while, ecspecially when its for the same ppl for the same offense over and over again.

Politics of the small town department crap is the worst.  I HATE IT!!!  People just need to let us do our jobs and not complain about every little thing they can.  My favorite was when I got my new car, I got a HELL of a light package.  14 strobe lightbar, LED is the deck and Grille, wig wags in the front and reverse lights, just throws hell of light.  Well I stopped a car around 3 a.m. one morning in front of a senior citizen building.  Well the next day the Chief called me in and said someone complained cuz my lights were too bright and it woke them up.  WHAT THE HELL is that crap.

Overall I wouldnt trade it for the world

Quoted: Parenting the city's kids whose parents refuse to step up to the plate gets old.  Fast.

On a call last night, asked mom (three kids, two of them adults.  Her DOB is '58 her husband is '76) what school the youngest goes to and she says, "he don't go to school."  I looked over at him and said, he looks pretty young (about 14) to have graduated.  She says, "no, he just won't go."

Big assed flat screen, Playstation, DVDs out the whazzoo.  You name it these turds had it.

I bet if she threw that Playstation, DVD, and flat screen out he'd find a reason to go to school.

As I was leaving, kid was leaving with his 19 y.o. aunt on foot.  I said, hey "auntie Rosa, why don't you kick Ignacio in his ass and make him go to school?"  "I'm trying"  

I have no illusions about how many times I'll be back to that house.

Not a police officer, but I have good relations with the city department here, and know all the cops and have done numerous ride alongs. Like you I notice guys who seem to be burnt out. What I guess I don't get is the new guys who have been on for 3 or 4 years and act like they have no interest in LE. It seems like it's just a normal job for them to come in, drive around and wait for a call then go home. I know it wasn't too long ago the new guys at this department would come in and bust ass all shift, if they weren't getting calls they were hitting traffic or competiting to see who could get the most warrants. Kind of depressing, but there are still some active guys who really do enjoy this work and want to learn more.

You can get burned out.  Arresting the same kackals over and over.  I lot of times you could change the names around on the report and turn in the same crap.  They seem to happily trade places, victim,witness, suspect.

Every once in a while you get to do some real good.  That goes a long way towards fighting the burnout.

That's why they invented vacation.  I go away to my happy place, I turn it off in my head.  I don't even think about work,politics,bullshit, for even a minute for a week or two.  Come back batteries all recharged.  Then I get the first scumbag call and it starts all over again.  The circle of life.

I didn't burn out on it... until I became a supervisor. Supervision in LE sucks. If I could make supervisor pay at the level of slick sleeve I'd be a happy sumbich. I had a BLAST when I was slick sleeve and only had ME to worry about ( 1* ). Not so fun now that I'm responsible for a whole shift.

I find that 'burnout' comes and goes. It's mainly directly related to the amount of interest I take in what's going on up top. Face it, we peons will never change a thing, until WE become king, therefore, I just mind my own 300sq miles of the valley and call it good.
We just amuse ourselves with the idiots that were put on Earth mainly to provide carbon dioxide to the plants, and make jokes whenever inappropriate, the more inappropriate the better....

Quoted: Parenting the city's kids whose parents refuse to step up to the plate gets old.  Fast.

Dude, so true.  I'm working kiddie squad now (juvenile/sex crimes), and damn do I know how true that is.

Quoted: Parenting the city's kids whose parents refuse to step up to the plate gets old.  Fast.

I had to qoute this even if you are a mod....mod squad? We called 'em mastercards!..you know/w/a monthly visit! HAHAHA!

Quoted: I find that 'burnout' comes and goes. It's mainly directly related to the amount of interest I take in what's going on up top. Face it, we peons will never change a thing, until WE become king, therefore, I just mind my own 300sq miles of the valley and call it good. We just amuse ourselves with the idiots that were put on Earth mainly to provide carbon dioxide to the plants, and make jokes whenever inappropriate, the more inappropriate the better....

I like the way you think.


I haven't gotten burned out.      Yet.   I still look for the fun and humor and the chance to help someone out.


I now believe that there is a seperate universe that operates under the cloak of darknes.   The gobblins come out and cause all sorts of mayhem and chaos.   You never read about them in the paper.   The average Joe would never understand, and would call BS if they only knew.   It's kind of like in the movie Men in Black where the little girl has the astrophysics book.   She's up to no good.

Quoted:
Just MHO, but there's nothing on the street that I can't deal with.  It's the internal stuff that will give you gray hair quicker than anything - having to wear long sleeves when it's 90 degrees out, getting fussed at because the computer eats a report (like I f***ing caused the underpowered Chinese piece of sh** to do that), having to write a memo because you parked on a sidewalk for a hot call even though there's a specific section in the state code that allows you to....I/we could go on. Amen, brother.....+a million!!!