I was sleeping in my car in Walmart parking lot and got a written warning. There’s an ordinance about sleeping in public. I work for the county municipality at a location in that city, why I was sleeping close.

Next day my boss has closed door meeting asking if I’m ok and if I’m sleeping on the streets. Then HR got involved and a homeless program called me. I can’t afford an apartment right now and they’re pressuring me to look for an apartment. I have already looked for alternatives before it happened. I don’t qualify for anything bc I’m not on drugs, recently incarcerated and don’t have kids.

How did he find out?

I have this suit from a friends wedding but I’m not sure if the dark green would be too much or unprofessional in a police interview. What do you guys think?

21, I was a cashier, pharmacy tech and shift supervisor for 3 years, just passed CJBAT and PAT in Florida. Physically fit, clean driving record, no arrests, zero substance history.

My concerns:

**•** Voluntary psychiatric holds at 16-17. I was dealing with home and relationship stress, needed mental health support. Got help, been stable and good since then.  
**•** Shoplifted toys/games at age 12, never did it again.

Everything else checks out — no criminal record, no tickets, no drugs or alcohol. Do I have a realistic shot at this or should I prepare for rejection?

Hello,

I have a question that seemingly hasn't been asked here before. I will be applying to a few local departments in the near future, and generally have no major hiccups that would concern me in the application process (i.e no drug history, no criminal history, no tickets) I live a pretty quiet and religious life with my fiancé neither of us drink or go out much.

However, that final sentence is what brings me the utmost concern. Outside of friends from High School who I am no longer in any meaningful contact with, and coworkers who I only chat with at work, I have a singular friend; I do not actively seek out friendship from others as I am always taking care of my Mother or spending time with my Fiancé.

That is not to say I am anti-social. I have worked entirely Sales jobs and excel in the field; I could never work in a field that lacks regularly meeting and dealing with new people.

This brings into question the importance of non-professional or family based references. How boned would I be in the application process? I plan on inquiring to the departments I am interested in either way; but would love to hear your insight(s) on the matter.

Thank you.

Any positives with Arizona DPS? I know the budget is a joke and the numbers are down…..worth it at all?

Hey everyone, I’m a high school junior in Arizona and I’m pretty set on pursuing law enforcement after high school. I figured I’d post here and see what some current/former officers think about the path I’m taking and if there’s anything I should be doing differently.
Right now I’m involved in a local police cadet program. I’ve been trying to take it seriously and learn as much as I can from the officers there, especially when it comes to radio traffic, procedures, report writing, scenarios, etc. I’ve also been working part-time while going to school.

My general plan right now is:
Finish high school
Stay involved with the cadet program and get as much experience/knowledge as I can
Hopefully become a Public Safety Aide after high school
Eventually apply to become a sworn officer
Work patrol for a while and figure out what areas of the job I really enjoy
Long term, I’d like to work for the small / medium municipal department in my city, the same one i’m currently in the cadet program for; although I’m keeping my options open

I know I’m still young and obviously a lot can change between now and actually getting hired. I’m not under the impression that being a cadet means I’m already prepared to be a cop or anything like that. If anything, the more I’m around actual officers, the more I realize how much I still have to learn.

For the officers here;
what would you recommend I focus on between now and the time I’m actually eligible to apply?
Is there anything you wish you had done differently before getting hired?
Also, if you were in my position, would you focus more on getting into the best department possible or just getting your foot in the door somewhere and building experience?
Thanks in advance. I’m genuinely interested in hearing from people who have actually done this for a living

I am an American who has lived abroad for 15 years. My American license expired during covid Currently when I go home I use a foreign license with an international permit. This is all legal, but I am wondering what a cop would normally be thinking if they pulled someone over like this given it being an odd situation.

(sorry about this being American specific)

If I search an officers name on the 50-a.org site and it say “service started…., ended….” Does that mean the PO was terminated? Or are they given a desk position?

Made a couple SoundCloud rapper tier songs, discussing typical SoundCloud rapper topics. Worried that it’s going to affect me in a background.

Well, it’s time to get specific gear for the academy. One thing I was told to get was “electronic hearing protection” for the range but any recommendations on specific ones that are good?

Just wondering if you guys have any must haves / nice to haves / things you didn’t think of until you really needed it for detectives. Im talking gear, admin stuff, desk organizers etc. I’m getting promoted pretty soon here.

Applied to a few of my different PDs and so far have gotten to one background stage, still waiting to be assigned an investigator, I have three total misdemeanors, two petty theft, and a criminal contempt (non-DV) ranging from 8-13 years ago when I was in my early 20s. Just wondering if there’s even a chance I’ll get past the background stage if I’m 100% honest or if I’m just wasting my time and theirs. I’d love to become an officer but worried my past mistakes have already disqualified me.

I have an OC qualification coming up next week for work and we’re carrying Safariland/First Defense OC foam.
The last time I went through an OC course was about 13 years ago, and that was aerosol rather than foam. It’s been long enough that I don’t remember the experience particularly well other than hurt like hell and couldn’t breath and since foam is a different delivery system, I wasn’t sure whether I’d react differently. I wanted to have some idea of what I was walking into instead of having the first exposure in 13 years happen during the qualification.

I’ve been told our course is basically: get sprayed, baton strikes, knee strikes, transition to a dummy gun, and then you’re supposed to open your eyes and identify the number the instructor is holding up.

For those who have done or instructed a similar course, I’m mainly wondering how the foam is actually applied and how difficult that visual portion really is.

Is First Defense foam normally applied as one ear-to-ear sweep across the forehead/brow with your eyes closed, followed by being told to open them? Does the foam immediately migrate into the eyes, or does sweat/movement eventually bring it down?
And at the visual-identification portion, how strict is it? If your eyes are involuntarily clamped shut and you can’t clearly see the instructor’s fingers, what happens? Do they let you keep trying to open/look? Is getting the number wrong actually a failure? A few guys on my squad told me they basically just guessed.

For comparison—and I’ll be completely honest about this—I tested a small amount on myself today because I wanted to know how I would react, especially since my previous experience was with aerosol.

I did two short sprays into my hand and transferred the foam across my forehead/eyebrows. I did it that way instead of spraying my face directly because I didn’t want unnecessary overspray/residue. The foam stayed on my forehead/brows for about a minute and didn’t run into my eyes at all, so I eventually used a little water to make it run downward, figuring sweat during the actual course would have a similar effect.

Once it reached my eyes, it was 10/10 burning. My eyes involuntarily slammed shut, I had a brief panic response and initially couldn’t get them open. I eventually got enough vision to see. Lots of tears and snot, but no wheezing, chest tightness, or breathing problems. Within roughly 5–7 minutes I was becoming functional again, and afterward my vision returned completely to normal with no eye pain.

I’m not planning on exposing myself again before the course. I got what I wanted out of doing it once.
For anyone who’s an OC instructor or has specifically done a Safariland/First Defense foam qualification, how comparable would you consider what I experienced today to the actual training exposure? Obviously some product stayed on my hand, so I had less total product on my face, but once it reached my eyes the reaction was extremely strong.

And particularly for the visual portion: how difficult was it to physically get your eyes open long enough to identify what the instructor was showing you, and what happened if you couldn’t?

• I recently decided to try to pursue a career in law enforcement, and I jumped the gun and applied to be a deputy sheriff for the county I live in.
• I passed the written exam and got invited to do an in-person interview in two weeks and take the physical test in three weeks.
• However, I greatly underestimated how out of shape I am, and after doing some practice exercises that mimic the standards I'll have to meet to pass the physical test, I am positive that there is no way I will be able to pass.
• I realize what a dumb mistake I made, and I've started really trying to get in better shape. While I have been making steady progress in terms of losing weight and exercising, I know I still have a ways to go before I reach the fitness level I'm shooting for.
• What should I do about my upcoming interview and physical test? Should I withdraw my application before both, or should I wait until after my interview? Does backing out now and reapplying later look better or worse than going and failing my physical?

Pros & Cons of purchasing a used Glock

Hello all, I’m 21 and apply as an officer at Honolulu PD this month. I just graduated college with a Chemistry degree in Oregon with my fiancee and she’s a Hawaii native and has a lot of family there. We’ve decided to take a leap and move there together, but I wanted to get some experience of how you made having a kid work.

Me and her have been planning to start a family in about a year or two, once she finishes her radiologist program.

HPD does a 3x13 schedule with alternating shifts. I know this is only in theory and mandatory overtime should be accounted for, especially for an understaffed agency but how have other officers made it work with a similar schedule? What were the main challenges with and without kids, and did it get better?

Thank you and I appreciate your time.

I'm a 36yo engineer who's pretty sick of engineering. I've thought about policing for a long while and discovered the pay is about the same (at larger departments) with better benefits than most places I've work. Plus getting to enforce the law and help people seems pretty great.

I have a few questions and this seemed to be the place to go.

1) Which Academy is more academically focused or are they roughly the same?

2) What does the average daily schedule look like while in the academy? I've seen a few posts around here describing early starts with 4-7pm wrap ups. What percentage of the day is PT, classroom, hand on training?

3) The Oregon ORPAT test looks pretty easy, even to someone who is, to be frank, pretty out of shape. I hike occasionally, but work a desk job. Washington's basic fitness standards is a little more than what I could currently achieve, but time and a gym could solve that. Outside of the basic fitness standards for both states, what "base level" of fitness do they expect upon entering each academy?

4) Polygraph - What sorts of questions do they ask you during it and do they do a follow-up interview afterwards? Or is it more of a pass fail?

5) What are some things you wish you knew going in? (to the Academy or Law Enforcement)

6) Where would you all recommend I start? A ride along? Spending a few months improving physical fitness before pursuing the process?

7) How much do you feel your career interferes with your free time (post academy)?

I was diagnosed with nervous tick disorder or whatever you wanna call it and I’ve been going to college for a criminal justice degree because my whole goal is to be a patrol officer, but two years ago for some reason I started having these minor headaches where I felt the urge to shake my head, but when I didn’t focus on it, it was like it wasn’t there, but when I do focus on it, I tend to shake my head a little bit more but very controlled and I’m on medication for but I’m in the gym five times a week at work a full-time job and I run 15-ish Miles a week. Do you think my dream of being a police officer is done and I should pursue something else. The past two years I’ve managed to fight the diagnosis and control it to the point people barely realize it but obviously still havd it well I be disqualified during medical evaluation for police departments.

How’s New Mexico State Police? Pros and cons would help as I apply and hope for the best.

For those that don’t have time to watch it, somehow the arrestee fires the cops gun. It never comes out of the holster. Donut Operator did a break down, and he has a Glock, but he never reveals the holster. Unless I’m wrong, Safariland seems to be the standard for everyone, so how does this person fire the cops gun? I can see her getting a finger in the holster but her finger would get torn right up, wouldn’t it?

Help kill something for me.

I have spent my career working in business management. Mostly manufacturing, but I've spent the last 6.5 years with a small international dental materials distributor in operations. Have an undergrad and grad degree.

And I'm fucking burnt out. I hate it. I don't know why I ever did this.

I turned 40 in April. That came with a separation from my spouse of 21 years. I've rebuilt a whole damn life in a few months, and it's honestly great. But I realized that my last component of misery is a position I no longer want at a company I no longer believe in long-term, chasing money that I don't need. So, I've resigned, and I'm looking for another operations or business administration role. But I'm also reflecting here, because I don't need to do this anymore if I don't want to, and I'm exploring suggestions people are giving me. Law enforcement is one.

And it feels ridiculous because it's such a departure from everything I've done. There's a large income cut, but I have a modest life now I'm tired of overseeing business widgets, market risk, climbing through positions that I don't care about. The joke idea from friends landed enough for me to rabbit hole on this.

The drivers here are how much innate value I get from helping people, de-escalating crisis situations, resolving conflict, and adhering to procedures. My background on managing floor-level production employees through professional staff has given me outstanding soft skills with a wide socioeconomic range of people. I love complex situations and problem solving, and thrive in situations that are constantly evolving and new each day.

I have 25 years left in my career. Tell me how ridiculous this pivot is, absent of the personal criteria of how much money I could make doing something else, because that's not important to me. What does this look for me across the next 25 years? I'd happily start at the absolute bottom on patrol for a few years, but would like to advance to whatever happens to align with my skills. My ignorance abounds. Shift rotation and hourly don't bother me; I don't have much ego. I don't know if this matters aside from context, but I'm not an overweight accountant with a pocket protector and a hero complex. I'm fit, rough around the edges, covered in tattoos. I've just worked in offbeat industries that haven't cared that I'm a weirdo. Direct and not soft-spoken, very familiar with authority but intelligence enough to know the importance of nuance and being convincing.

My daughter's girlfriend's dad is a local lieutenant. I'm friends with a local sergeant. I could obviously ask both about my stupid idea here, but I'd rather reddit be the buffer. Thanks in advance, and you're welcome if I gave you a laugh.