If it helps, I know several people who have made similar career changes at that stage of your life. In my academy class, we had one cadet that had just retired from the Army in a supply position and went into police work at 41.
If you are considering federal, go now because next year you will be too old (as I mentioned). Someone else beat me to the news item from today, but that would sound ideal for what you are looking for. It will take a few years to get overseas, but the FBI can do it for you though it will probably never get quite to the Bourne Conspiracy or James Bond level.
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Return to “Cross road in life suggestions needed”
- Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:38 pm
- Forum: General Gun, Shooting & Equipment Discussion
- Topic: Cross road in life suggestions needed
- Replies: 23
- Views: 2683
- Mon Jan 05, 2009 11:53 pm
- Forum: General Gun, Shooting & Equipment Discussion
- Topic: Cross road in life suggestions needed
- Replies: 23
- Views: 2683
Re: Cross road in life suggestions needed
Well, my first impression was that you were asking the wrong question, or the right question for the wrong reasons. If the choice is between police and FBI, it has nothing to do with the tactical shooting training. If the question is about getting better shooting training, it should be for personal improvement.
While I do always recommend training for shooters and tactical situations, I cannot tell you which of the shooting schools is better. I can give you my opinions on law enforcement careers. Having spent most of my career in local law enforcement, and now working for the state, my opinions will reflect that background.
The FBI is not necessarily the best of the law enforcement field, though they have that reputation with the public. Most street cops will tell you they do not care for the FBI or the way they work. They also do not see the FBI as the top of law enforcement, sometimes not even seeing them as cops. In my opinion, the best cops wear uniforms, drive marked cars, and answer 911 calls. But the FBI is very good and one of the hardest agencies to get into. They require at least a bachelor's degree. They used to also require three years of field experience but I think this has been dropped. Their preferences for a degree are law, accounting, and computer science though that order changes around sometimes. Most of their work is white collar investigative work. They do have field offices around the world now, and some get very deeply into the nitty gritty of organized crime. I don't know how old you are, but federal law enforcement does have a very strict age cutoff of 21 minimum and 37 maximum.
Local and state police departments vary in the work they do and their requirements. There are agencies that will hire you with a high school diploma and put you though a police academy but it is very competitive. One example of this is San Antonio Police Department. Their requirements for getting hired are fairly easy to meet, but they also get around 3000 applications for each academy class of 100 people. Most of Texas is moving towards requiring college such as DPS requiring 45 hours (though it might have gone up to an A.A.). Many small towns will take anything they can get but require a police license already. Almost every major department that hires you will put you through their police academy. Not only is this at no expense to you (nominally, you usually end up buying supplies and uniforms and equipment) but you get paid while you are in the academy. The other way is to pay your own way through a local police academy. This costs about $1500 right now at most academies, plus the same expenses I mentioned above. And, you don't get paid in the academy or even have a guarantee of a job when you are done. With the shortage of officers around the state, finding a job should not be too hard. Finding a GOOD job is a little harder of course.
None of the local academies or police departments will look too hard at your firearms training. Some would even prefer you not have any so they can teach you their way without having to change old habits. I know of quite a few police officers who had never fired any type of firearm before entering their academy.
So, for the law enforcement question, the real question is what type of work do you want to do? General patrol is usually a local police or county sheriff department. Traffic patrol is the domain of the DPS, but many larger local departments will have a traffic section. Detective work on organized crime and major crime is the FBI and some state departments, though again, major local departments will have units for this too. Less significant crime is solved at the local agency. And some specific crimes are almost exclusively the local police detectives. Two good examples are homicide and sex crimes. Specialized departments exist too. For example, TABC deals primarily with the liquor industry, but can get involved in some very major crimes that occur on licensed premises. Arson is almost always through a fire department or the state fire marshal's office. Felon apprehension is the specialty of the US Marshal's Office. Border Patrol and Customs are specialties, as is DEA (they try to go after the big guys and let the local PD detectives handle the street level dealers and users).
And then there are the very obscure specialties, like the horse race stewards, water board, pharmacy board investigators, etc. Most of them look for experience in law enforcement so they can teach you their specialty.
Sorry if I get long winded on this or took it to a different level than you were looking for. The last peice of advice on law enforcement as a career is to remember that it is not a final decision. You can go with the FBI and then change your mind to go local, or vice versa. Good luck with your decision.
While I do always recommend training for shooters and tactical situations, I cannot tell you which of the shooting schools is better. I can give you my opinions on law enforcement careers. Having spent most of my career in local law enforcement, and now working for the state, my opinions will reflect that background.
The FBI is not necessarily the best of the law enforcement field, though they have that reputation with the public. Most street cops will tell you they do not care for the FBI or the way they work. They also do not see the FBI as the top of law enforcement, sometimes not even seeing them as cops. In my opinion, the best cops wear uniforms, drive marked cars, and answer 911 calls. But the FBI is very good and one of the hardest agencies to get into. They require at least a bachelor's degree. They used to also require three years of field experience but I think this has been dropped. Their preferences for a degree are law, accounting, and computer science though that order changes around sometimes. Most of their work is white collar investigative work. They do have field offices around the world now, and some get very deeply into the nitty gritty of organized crime. I don't know how old you are, but federal law enforcement does have a very strict age cutoff of 21 minimum and 37 maximum.
Local and state police departments vary in the work they do and their requirements. There are agencies that will hire you with a high school diploma and put you though a police academy but it is very competitive. One example of this is San Antonio Police Department. Their requirements for getting hired are fairly easy to meet, but they also get around 3000 applications for each academy class of 100 people. Most of Texas is moving towards requiring college such as DPS requiring 45 hours (though it might have gone up to an A.A.). Many small towns will take anything they can get but require a police license already. Almost every major department that hires you will put you through their police academy. Not only is this at no expense to you (nominally, you usually end up buying supplies and uniforms and equipment) but you get paid while you are in the academy. The other way is to pay your own way through a local police academy. This costs about $1500 right now at most academies, plus the same expenses I mentioned above. And, you don't get paid in the academy or even have a guarantee of a job when you are done. With the shortage of officers around the state, finding a job should not be too hard. Finding a GOOD job is a little harder of course.
None of the local academies or police departments will look too hard at your firearms training. Some would even prefer you not have any so they can teach you their way without having to change old habits. I know of quite a few police officers who had never fired any type of firearm before entering their academy.
So, for the law enforcement question, the real question is what type of work do you want to do? General patrol is usually a local police or county sheriff department. Traffic patrol is the domain of the DPS, but many larger local departments will have a traffic section. Detective work on organized crime and major crime is the FBI and some state departments, though again, major local departments will have units for this too. Less significant crime is solved at the local agency. And some specific crimes are almost exclusively the local police detectives. Two good examples are homicide and sex crimes. Specialized departments exist too. For example, TABC deals primarily with the liquor industry, but can get involved in some very major crimes that occur on licensed premises. Arson is almost always through a fire department or the state fire marshal's office. Felon apprehension is the specialty of the US Marshal's Office. Border Patrol and Customs are specialties, as is DEA (they try to go after the big guys and let the local PD detectives handle the street level dealers and users).
And then there are the very obscure specialties, like the horse race stewards, water board, pharmacy board investigators, etc. Most of them look for experience in law enforcement so they can teach you their specialty.
Sorry if I get long winded on this or took it to a different level than you were looking for. The last peice of advice on law enforcement as a career is to remember that it is not a final decision. You can go with the FBI and then change your mind to go local, or vice versa. Good luck with your decision.