r/AskLE

Hey everyone,

I’m 21 and just got my final offer to join the department a few weeks ago. I’ll be starting pre-academy soon and heading into the full academy in about two months. I really want to make the most of this opportunity and set myself up for success as a new officer.

For the experienced LEOs here: What advice do you have for someone starting out? I’m especially looking for tips on how to excel during my first year, make it through probation, and become the best officer I can be. Any lessons you wish you knew starting out would be hugely appreciated.

I’m currently in Illinois, and my local community college offers an accelerated one-year Criminal Justice (CJ) associate degree program. After completing it, you can enter my local police department without having to take the usual entrance exam.

I’m trying to decide if it’s worth getting this associate degree just to get my foot in the door, with the plan of later pursuing a bachelor’s degree in something like Business Management. I’ve heard that a CJ degree isn’t always very useful long-term, so I’m wondering if this is the smartest path.

It’s from a small town in my state but I’m extremely excited and nervous. I’ve creeped in here for a long time, taken a ton of advice from people and it seems to have paid off. Even if it doesn’t work out all the way I want to say I appreciate the wealth of knowledge from everyone. I was active duty for a while and when I got off I was denied by my first department. Which really discouraged me and I waited a while before I attempted another round of applications but from the get go this felt like the best interview. Appreciate y’all!

I've been in a large city department (well paid) for over 10 years and for a wide variety of reasons am looking to get out, the cost of living is insane in my area and I don't have the option to move. What jobs specifically look for prior law enforcement when hiring? I keep seeing banks suggested but I've applied to every Fraud or investigations position I've seen for the past four months and haven't gotten a single interview. I have a mortgage and family to support and can't afford an entry level position. Are there any lateral career moves to a different field or am I stuck?

I'm currently 15 and I'm looking to become a cop with a local police department when i turn 21. what kids of jobs could I do in the meantime that will help me develop good skills and look good on applications?

Also, I heard criminal justice degrees are pretty much useless in police work. Is that true, and what degree should I try to get? I just want one that will be most useful to me when I'm a cop.

Hey guys. need some opinions please.

28M been off FTO for a few months now. I feel like i lost the passion and likeliness I once’s had for this job. I think it’s my agency since all i do is chase reports all day long since we are so large and so busy all the time. I’m debating on transferring to a smaller department (did a previous post on that) in hopes that maybe a less call volume and less hectic might help, but i’m honestly not sure. i wouldn’t even know what else to do since all i’ve really done was corrections prior to patrol.

When I was 18, I was going through a mental health crisis and I wanted to reinvent myself, so I changed my entire name. 6 years later and I have received my bachelor’s degree, and built my entire career with this name. Throughout this time I was happy with the new name and felt proud of the fact that I successfully built myself from the ground up and accomplished what I’ve wanted.

Recently, however, I’ve felt a sense of inauthenticity towards my current name, especially because my birth name is from a different culture (for which I was bullied in my youth), and I want to reclaim my birth name back. I feel like I don’t wanna die with my current name written on my gravestone, and when I hear my last name, which is a generic anglicized name, I cringe.

I have a clean record under both names. My only concern about reclaiming my birth name is that since it’s an entirely different name, I will have to reintroduce myself to everyone with a completely new name, and possibly use my current first name as a nickname. My other option is to keep my current first name that everyone knows me by, replace my middle name with my old first name, and reclaim my last name. This concerns me with complicated background checks as I’ll now have a third legal name in my record, but it’ll be easier for people to identify me.

From a background check perspective, which option will give me less headaches in the future? Thanks y’all.

Where are you guys finding grants. My department is getting close to the point where all of our body cameras and in car cameras are going to crap and its hard to convince a city council to fork over a ton of money for new cameras. So any direction you could point me would be great.

Anyone in last phase of hiring process with MPD DC? Psychological/ Medical?

Good morning!

I would love to get some advice from other officers here. I interviewed for an animal control officer trainee job. It was by far the worst interview I have ever had. I'm in my early 40's. Had a lot interviews in my life. It was a 4 panel interview. It's a sworn position. The guy was a retired police officer ( Not an animal control officer) He kept yelling and seemed very annoyed by me being interviewed. I answered all the questions to best of my knowledge and research. I have worked in the vet field, kennel, pet sitting ect. He kept saying we have hired a lot of people and they come in and can't handle aggressive dogs. He kept repeating Terminated over and over. Almost like they have a high turnout rate is the impression I was getting. They are hiring the wrong ones. This was for a trainee job to become a Animal control officer. It wasn't best experience for me and I questioned wheather I wanted to continue on with my degree and find an animal control job. I don't think I got the job and honestly I don't care if I did. Everyone else was nice, but he was down right rude and I don't think I could work with him. On the way out he was at the door. I shook his hand again and he said " good luck". I'm assuming I wasn't picked after he said good luck, but I really didn't care. I won't step foot back in that shelter.

My question is:

Have you experienced this before?

How do you get better at writing your reports?

What is some advice you can give me to improve myself?

Currently a police officer with 2 years on at a large service and considering making the jump to the RCMP. Long-term, I’m interested in eventually moving into some form of plainclothes investigative work. I’m weighing going to a more isolated post (Beaver Creek, Oxford House, etc.) versus a larger northern hub (Fort McMurray, Whitehorse). My thinking is that isolated posts might offer more responsibility and faster experience, but larger hubs might provide better mentorship, resources, and a broader range of files early on. I’ve reached out to EPO coordinators already, but I’m hoping to hear from people with experience who can speak to how these different postings impacted development and future opportunities.

Last year I was arrested during a traffic stop in Wisconsin. They released me after booking and I have since been checking CCAP regularly for something to show up, nothing has. They were having a lot of trouble with their system that night, and they did not take a mug shot, although they did take my fingerprints.

I have since moved from the house any mail would have gone to. However I am planning on visiting someone in a WI jail next week and I’m worried that despite checking CCAP, I’ve missed something and there’s a bench warrant out for me.

If there was any information on CCAP I would have gone to any court dates… but I cannot find anything about my arrest anywhere.

I guess my question is- are there databases I’m unaware of and would these be used during a jail visit.

Thanks in advance!

Was anyone here around for that or had cop friends that had to investigate and did they think it was all bullshit. The tunnels and daycare accusations

I’m 22 years old. Last year in March I was fired from my agency while in the academy for paying for sex. I joined the military to turn my life around have another chance at law enforcement sometime in the future.

Does anyone know the process on how to regain the ability to become certified through POST. I guess I’m looking for more information or so on how to go before the council the correct way and not further ruin any future Chan es I may or may not have.

If anyone has also had a similar situation, could you please share yours and how you went about it? It would be extremely helpful.

Any further help would be appreciated. I apologize for the terrible format.

Maybe this is an obvious question but I'm looking at applying for a Community Service Officer position and they want a letter of interest no more than 2 pages. my first thought is that it's basically a cover letter like for any other job but thought I'd ask in case I should go into more depth on why I want the position. thank you

Hey guys so I have taken the NYPD process twice now, the first time I thought I got disqualified because I didnt bring a clearance letter for my apical variant cardiomyopathy and just provided stress and echo results, second time literally today I brought two clearance letters from my cardiologist and my physician stating clearly that I have no limitation and that I am clear to join with no restrictions what so ever and have no underlying issues. And the NYPD cardiologist just gave me a lecture basically saying why I cant join the NYPD or FDNY or even the Army because of my condition. I am also currently in process for NYSP trooper do you guys think it will be different for every department or if law enforcement basically is not going to work out for me and I have no shot? Has anyone gone through the same?

I recently applied to be a police officer with PhillyPD. The expected start date for the academy is in mid July so I still have some time I'm guessing. I went through the physical test, drug test, written test, and poly. It has now been about a month and a half since I have heard from my investigator. I'm getting a bit nervous that I'm being left in the dark or forgotten about. Has anyone else had a similar experience and if so, what was the (or is) the usual turnout?

Any tips on getting ready for a power test? I'm alright on everything but the run my knees start hurting pretty quick. I have started walking about 5 miles a day to get them ready but it doesn't really seem to help. I can't afford to go to my local gym cause memberships are stupid expensive. I have just been going to my local high school track and either walk or jog the straight aways and walk the edges but no matter what I do my knees still hurt.

Anyone can give me the best information on this sheriff office. What’s the schedules like? What are the sectors like? Uniform/equipment? Take home vehicle? Etc. thanks in advance!