Any Advice for Someone Looking to Relocate?

[xkingsyx]

I am currently living in Florida but looking to relocate to the San Diego area. Is it possible to get a police job without flying back and forth more than once or twice? I have passed the Florida written exams and PAT but I assume that California would require me to retake these. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

[nobody33]

SDPD would be your best bet, 2-3 month process now i think. call their recruiters. I think it would be two trips. But the is pay bad. unlivable bad. Go to orange county.

[MSoCal]

Your gonna have to request a FEMA trailer from FEMA if you get hired by SDPD the pay really stinks considering the average home in SD County costs over 400k.

[ask80]

you guys forgot about SDSO too... chula vista is a good choice... national city (aka nasty city)..ehh.. i'd pass up on that... O-Side..not too bad... or maybe you can try for US Border Patrol and hope for San Diego. My buddy is stationed at Imperial Beach.

[xkingsyx]

you guys forgot about SDSO too... chula vista is a good choice... national city (aka nasty city)..ehh.. i'd pass up on that... O-Side..not too bad... or maybe you can try for US Border Patrol and hope for San Diego. My buddy is stationed at Imperial Beach.

I am about to start the Border Patrol process, but of course that is a 4-12 month process. Thanks for the info on the SDPD.

[ask80]

well i was in the process with USBP about a year ago. i got hired in like 5 months, but of course turned it down. the process was real quick...

[Blue Leader]

If you want to come to San Diego, apply all over the place. However, SDPD is your best hope at getting hired quickly. We hire the most due to our larger size and need for officers since people leave for better pay. The process takes about 3-4 months from what I hear. I'd guess about 10% of those that leave end up coming back because "the grass wasn't greener on the other side".

The worst case scenario is, you get hired and get paid to go thru the academy. Do your year on a get a POST certification and then go wherever you want if the $$ isn't right. Don't believe the pay numbers in the literature though. With shift differential and OT, the numbers go up. For example, our top step patrol officer pay is listed about $66K yet my base pay WITHOUT overtime is $75K due to my advanced post certification and shift pay. With our new 9% raise, that will go to $82K. On my squad of 10 last year, (7) guys were over $90K with OT, (2) made over $100K.

There are alot of places with better pay but few have job assignments that a big department can offer...helicopters, huge K9 unit, riding quads on the beach, mountain bikes on the boardwalk during the summer while taking in all the eye candy....bike team downtown in the Gaslamp...working at professional baseball and football games.

The best thing about working at a big department is we have (8) divisions + traffic so you can move around when you get tired of one area...or a jerk-off supervisor. In a small town, if you have (1) LT that has it in for you, you are in for a long career. Here, you can just transfer or wait him out because LT's never last long in one place.

[xkingsyx]

If you want to come to San Diego, apply all over the place. However, SDPD is your best hope at getting hired quickly. We hire the most due to our larger size and need for officers since people leave for better pay. The process takes about 3-4 months from what I hear. I'd guess about 10% of those that leave end up coming back because "the grass wasn't greener on the other side".

The worst case scenario is, you get hired and get paid to go thru the academy. Do your year on a get a POST certification and then go wherever you want if the $$ isn't right. Don't believe the pay numbers in the literature though. With shift differential and OT, the numbers go up. For example, our top step patrol officer pay is listed about $66K yet my base pay WITHOUT overtime is $75K due to my advanced post certification and shift pay. With our new 9% raise, that will go to $82K. On my squad of 10 last year, (7) guys were over $90K with OT, (2) made over $100K.

There are alot of places with better pay but few have job assignments that a big department can offer...helicopters, huge K9 unit, riding quads on the beach, mountain bikes on the boardwalk during the summer while taking in all the eye candy....bike team downtown in the Gaslamp...working at professional baseball and football games.

The best thing about working at a big department is we have (8) divisions + traffic so you can move around when you get tired of one area...or a jerk-off supervisor. In a small town, if you have (1) LT that has it in for you, you are in for a long career. Here, you can just transfer or wait him out because LT's never last long in one place.

Thanks for all of the info, I will be sure to apply after hearing what you have to say. I just hope it doesn't cost me a ton of money flying back and forth for nothing. Although, I guess there really isn't a downside in going out to San Diego a couple times.