I recently was talking to a friend of mine who is a police officer and he let me know they are currently hiring. He knows i'm getting really bored as a programer and I'm looking for a change of pace (although not to seriously, I love my job. I'm just getting bored with programming. I'm thinking of getting out of 'computers'). Its a mid to large size city with nominal crime in the midwest. Surprisingly the pay is not that bad and is actually about 5k more then I make currently.
I was wondering if anyone on the forums was a city police officer. I wonder what the job was like for them and if they think it is worth persuing. What is a common day like? Is it a good long term career? Any other input.
I know I can pass the physical requirements, and I dont have any problems with the training and being hit with pepper spray and a stun gun. I have good people skills from my long career as a teenager in customer service (internet support). I can talk people down from rage (I worked volunteer work on a suiciide hotline). I have a few years of judo training and aikido training and recently bjj and kickboxing so i'm physically inshape (5'9" 166 pounds) and I know a thing or two about controling another person safely. I go to the range about once a month and I'm a good shot. My only problem is I have a inherited issue that makes me appear nervious (my hands shake). This has been checked out and I am 100% fine. I have had cat scans, mri's, blood tests, etc. No problems have been detected, but when I'm trying to do something tedious or something that requires all my strenght I tremble slightly. This works for my advantage in competition because people think I am scared of them and are overconfident, but I'm not sure how it will look to the police (in fact I have had several police suspect me of hiding something because of my shaking).
So do you guys think this is worth persuing? If I do, should I go get a degree in criminal justice first (A degree is not listed as a requirement)? Or should I just give it a shot and see what happens? I'm going to talk to a few guys tonight who work on the force, but I wanted to get other opinions from other officers out there in the internet community.
I was wondering if anyone on the forums was a city police officer. I wonder what the job was like for them and if they think it is worth persuing. What is a common day like? Is it a good long term career? Any other input.
I know I can pass the physical requirements, and I dont have any problems with the training and being hit with pepper spray and a stun gun. I have good people skills from my long career as a teenager in customer service (internet support). I can talk people down from rage (I worked volunteer work on a suiciide hotline). I have a few years of judo training and aikido training and recently bjj and kickboxing so i'm physically inshape (5'9" 166 pounds) and I know a thing or two about controling another person safely. I go to the range about once a month and I'm a good shot. My only problem is I have a inherited issue that makes me appear nervious (my hands shake). This has been checked out and I am 100% fine. I have had cat scans, mri's, blood tests, etc. No problems have been detected, but when I'm trying to do something tedious or something that requires all my strenght I tremble slightly. This works for my advantage in competition because people think I am scared of them and are overconfident, but I'm not sure how it will look to the police (in fact I have had several police suspect me of hiding something because of my shaking).
So do you guys think this is worth persuing? If I do, should I go get a degree in criminal justice first (A degree is not listed as a requirement)? Or should I just give it a shot and see what happens? I'm going to talk to a few guys tonight who work on the force, but I wanted to get other opinions from other officers out there in the internet community.