u/Material_Editor5213

Hey all.

I’ve been looking at agencies around the Portland metro area and over in Washington, and I was wondering what your honest take is on the differences between departments. Stuff like pay, bennies, patrol schedules, mandatory OT, staffing shortages, admin support, and overall morale (love a dark joke, hate overall unhappy coworkers). How much do city politics and command staff actually affect the job day to day? Also, for guys trying to move up, how competitive is it getting onto specialty units like SWAT, K9, narcotics, depending on your agency?