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Pawpaw wrote:

Excaliber wrote:

Keith B wrote:

nightmare69 wrote:

Edit: Give me some good thread titles for my academy thread.

How about 'My Life in Copper School'

or "Academy Adventures"

or "Doughnut Diary"

Mall cop adventures?

texanjoker wrote:Hopefully it is a para military style academy. If it wasnt so far i'd walk by in uniform a few times to make you jump to attention

But you might be in the college style that is all touchy feely. IMO one needs the tougher because if they cant handle being yelled at in training how will they handle it in the field?

For the title my suggestion is Police Academy Blues

Good luck and stay injury free

From what other graduate officers have told me this academy doesn't do any physical training. They have told me it's more of a college style atmosphere. They do yell a bit I've heard but it's nothing like DPS academy in Austin. I'll let y'all know, either way I'm going to be the best.

I'm thinking "Police Academy Adventures". I'll start it tomorrow sometime.

Good one, Ill try to think of some.

From what other officers have told my about the OC spray is they make everyone get hit with the 500k, but for extra credit you can request the 2 million. Im dumb enough to request it. Ill let someone get a video of that and Ill upload it.

On the tazer training I want to be hit with the real deal, not lay down and have them attach the probes to me. I want to be shot with the real thing if they will let me.


Edit: Give me some good thread titles for my academy thread.

Thanks, Ill start one in this LEO forum next week.

texanjoker wrote:Remember the academy is a foundation. You will learn how to apply what you learned in field training and learn it isnt as black and white as taught in the academy. Good luck and be ready for PT.

You can cobra your heathcare which would be smart as many get hurt in the academy. If not employed then it is on you and not work comp.

Yeah for $331 a month for low coverage high deductible insurance. I can't afford it working side jobs on the weekends here and there.

Last day at work is tomorrow then I start class Monday at 8am. Going to be sad leaving work after 10yrs but on to bigger and better things. I won't have health insurance for at least 4 months and Im sure Obama going to penalize me for that, oh well.

Mods...Can I start a thread over my experience as I go through the police academy? This thread is really long.

Thanks guys really excited about this.

Things are moving forward. I got sponsored and going to turn in all my paperwork to the academy next week. Already turned in my letter of resignation (felt happy and sick at the same time) and my last day will be January 24th and first day of class will be the following Monday the 27th.

Its happening.

Was looking on TML and Longview PD is on there. They are 30 officers short and pay the best in east Texas. They are so darn picky though its unreal, I had a adjudicated felony when I was 13yrs old and they said its a automatic DQ. Funny though their website said you could not been convicted of a felony, I was adjudicated, they told me it was the same thing, wrong. Most other PDs either don't care about a juvenile record or only want you to list arrest age 15 and older.

jmra wrote: I don't think he was emphasizing the age thing at all. I think he was suggesting that over the years the industry has become more professional in nature leaving behind the Barney and good ole boy image. The next natural progression in professional development of police forces is to increase the basic requirements of applicants.
In the past insufficient pay has been detrimental to implementing those requirements. But as we see entry level pay for graduates continue to decline throughout the work force, higher educational demands on law enforcement professionals becomes more attainable.
If I were doing the hiring and I had to choose between a 21 year old with a legitimate degree in Criminal Justice and an early 30s guy with a business degree and 10 years of project management experience fresh out of a local police academy, I would choose the latter (assuming all other things equal).
In the absence of such experience (a kid fresh out of the police academy and another with a degree in CJ), I'm going to look closely at the individual's education and their capacity for learning.

If the industry is going to start requiring a college degree then they will have to up the starting pay to more than 35k a year. Otherwise why spend 4yrs in college only to make a salary that someone with a GED and 18 weeks in a academy can make? If I had a 4yr degree I would not be looking into being a cop. Some departments require 40-60hrs of college credit to apply or 2yrs LE experience, like DPS.

Excaliber wrote: Three out of 140 is great odds.

In my agency, well over 5,000 people applied and we hired about 22 over the next 2 years. Since we were a civil service agency and could only hire from the top 3 for each slot, only the absolutely best candidates even stood a chance.

That's why I keep telling you not to think in terms of just making average - you need to stand out to get hired. Work hard to be the best of the best.

Unfortunately, rapid hire after the academy is the exception rather than the rule because the hiring process is so long - it can easily take 2 months or more.

The Texas Municipal League is a great resource which many municipalities use to post their officer openings. Go to the job search page, select "police" from the drop down menu, and you'll see all current openings with the most recent first.

Another approach to your post academy employment would be to seek initial hire as a reserve, which is usually easier to get than a full time post. You may be able to put together enough hours from a couple of agencies to be the equivalent of full time if you're lucky, and it would be a much better springboard to launch into a full time position from.

Im was decent in school but no where near the top. I will do my best but I was blessed with common sense more so than book smarts. None of the departments I have called will do a intent to hire sponsorship, they say they cannot commit a job 6 months down the road. Even the academy told me they never get a student with intent to hire sponsor anymore.

As far as working full time while going to school, not an option for me. Every officer I have talked to says if you can just go to school then do so because you will need to study. They have said that alot of people that went to day classes and worked full time at night were kicked out. So I will need time to study and sleep.

E.Marquez wrote:
Question; the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education http://www.tcleose.state.tx.us/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; site still refers to it as TCLEOSE . Where are you guys seeing it as TCOLE?

All three academy's near me require you to be placed on the roster as a candidate only when they are looking to hire you upon certification, or a associated department paying for you to attend has requested you attend, and has provided a sponsorship letter with the intent of providing a job should you pass and certify.

IOW, if you attend academy... PASS and receive your TCLEOSE cert.. you have a job waiting. I was not aware it was not that way across the board.

My understanding of the pre academy screening, testing, interviews, boards ect is that those chosen to attend = the number of new hires desired,, either by the department that runs the academy or the departments sending folks to it.

You have to have a LE agency sponsor you to get into the academy. 3 types of sponsorships, Full employed, intent to hire, non employed. Most people get the non employed as I will have too then pray you can find a job after graduation. Some department will do the full employed sponsorship and have 2-5 spots. You have to go through all the testing and hiring process. Last department had 3 spots and 140+ people show up. Unless you are a genious and can score high on the civil service test you may as well take a non employed sponsorship and try to find a job afterward.

Some graduates say it took them nearly a year to find work and some never got a job, I will give myself 1 month, if no job I will go to work as a jailer even though that is not what I want to do. Jailers make no money and no telling how long you will have to work in the jail. Being a jailer will be a last resort, becoming a licensed peace officer just to work in a jail seems redundant. Kinda like going to school and getting a law degree, passing the bar, then going to work in a law firm as a custodian. I that is what I have to do as long as it is temporary to become a LEO then so be it. Just scares the doo doo out of me to quit a decent paying job of 10yrs with great hours to go to the academy with no guarantee Ill find work once I get out. Once I get out I will be broke and will have to find something quick.

The officer said the one who were kicked out were working full time when not at school and didn't have time to study. This is why I choose to quit my job so I can focus 100% of my free time on school. I imagine its going to be tough but Im going to do my best and apply myself and pray its enough.

Edit: The way the officer said about the fail ratio the students that were kicked out were not included in it. If that is true then the pass/fail percentage is invalid as it does not include students who were kicked out.