US Park Police vs CBPO vs Supreme Court PD

[Goldensun221]

Between the three which would you go with?

Supreme court PD sounds like a very chill gig, I have heard great things about the department. They seem to hire educated well qualified officers. My only concern - is it just static post for most of the day?

I've also heard solid things about Park police. Apparently they are somewhat under paid and their equipment is lacking (they are under NPS after all) so that is a bit concerning.

CBP pays the most but I heard morale is pretty horrid. CBP would have the most growth potential and could lead to other gigs within homeland security (HSI etc.)

[battlewagon]

CBPO is a guaranteed hire if you can pass each step. Not the case for USPP. You will have to go to DC multiple times for the hiring process (unless they have condensed it recently), can pass each step, and possibly not get a slot.

CBPO is a guaranteed border spot, or even harder spot to fill, like Portal, ND, Derby Line, VT, NYC, etc. Pay is off the charts, whether you like it or not if you go to a busy port with forced over shifts and other undesirables. There was a CBPO in my neighborhood that worked 16-8-16-8-16 every week. He elected to work that much, but said he did it because he was going to get forced over against his will, so he basically volunteered those shifts so at least he knew when he was going to work a 16. Not when it was 1.5 hours before shift ending and you're thinking about your kid's baseball game that afternoon, just to be forced over. But it can be fun work. But it can also be death by passport stamping in a booth.
Yes, Supreme Court is mainly static work.

If you were even willing to consider CBPO, then I'd say Border Patrol is a better bet. Great job, it is the stepping stone to the 1811 world. But also can be a grind with changes in politics and whatnot. Those BPAs in the RGV are about to have a bad day in 9 days when Title 42 ends. So it has ups and downs for sure.

Either way, good luck. All good jobs that pay well.

[merlin436]

The days of OFO being a cash cow are pretty much over, especially in the majority of ports. Double especially if you plan your Christmas fund on overtime budgets...which are a fraction of past years. Now, if you have a strong desire to work midnights and weekends...there's money there...assuming it's an option at your port.

OFO has never had morale. CBP killed off what little morale was carried over by the legacy agencies and left a void of emptiness and apathy.

[Ratatatat]

If forced to choose, as in the repo man is about to tow my car if I don't get a job, it would be Park Police. Here's why...

Supreme Court Police would be standing post in front of ornate wooden doors as the robed jurists debate the big legal issues of the day. It's walls and halls work, boring as F and hard on the arches. No heavy lifting, other than helping Ginny Thomas out of the car when she goes to meet Roger Stone or the My Pillow Guy.

Pro Tip: when standing post for hours on end and you can't thumb at your phone, keep from going brain dead by counting the tiny specks of color in commercial paint on the walls and then determine how many tiny specks exist in the hallway. Example- if there are 50 little specks in one square inch, and there are 144 square inches in a square foot, then 7,200 flecks are in a square foot. If the hall is 8 feet high and 100 feet long, then the surface area for two walls and the ceiiling would be 2400 square feet. 7,200 times 2,400 = 17,280.000 flecks of paint in the hall you're standing. Take it a step further for the building- say there are ten floors, each with four hallways. So that would be 10x4x17,280,000, or 691,200,000 tiny flecks of paint in the entire building. Little mental games like this can make the difference between surviving or thriving a career....

CBP is totally soul crushing, or as the previous poster charmingly described, 'a void of emptiness and empathy.' And you're a fool if you believe that it would lead to HSI because frankly your application would be buried below some very qualified talent-- USSS agents looking to jump ship... former SF operators... officers on the VCTF on loan from local agencies... you know, guys who've done more than open luggage and scan passports.

Back to Park Police. Yes it's under NPS and Interior (both do many things right except for LE), but of all the fed agencies, USPP is actually the closest the G comes to traditional police work in the jurisdiictions it operates. I can't imagine the cost of living in Manhattan or San Fran or DC on those wages but people do make it work. Like the old saying goes, 'use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.'

[Goldensun221]

Well that certainly gives me a lot to think about. Does Supreme Court pd really do that much standing around? I would have assumed they might stand post for a few hours and change out / switch assignments. If they truly are standing post for 8 hours straight that sounds like a pretty miserable gig.

[Anthropologist]

Maybe that's why the starting pay is so high for a 0083 position?

[57IG]

Well that certainly gives me a lot to think about. Does Supreme Court pd really do that much standing around? I would have assumed they might stand post for a few hours and change out / switch assignments. If they truly are standing post for 8 hours straight that sounds like a pretty miserable gig.

There is also USSS UD, Capital Police, and many others. Everyone can debate the nuances of each position/agency, but get hired and stop the 12d clock, you can always apply and transfer to another covered position.

[merlin436]

On the plus side OFO does have 328 ports as well as dozens of work locations outside the US and roughly 26,000 CBPOs. Few other jobs offer that many location options and potential freedom of movement.

Generally, the pay is decent though not spectacular and the workload largely isn't all that strenuous. One just needs to realize and accept that OFO has no organizational sense of identity, no comradeship, no morale, no real direction or plan for the future.

If one is a pragmatist, an utilitarian who defines himself outside of work and career and who "works to live versus lives to work" and takes his self-esteem from family, friends, community or other non-work investments, life within OFO really isn't that bad.

[SFTB26]

Capitol Police (USCP) currently has the highest starting salary for Uniformed agencies in the DMV area. Endless OT, retention bonuses, and the opportunity for many unique specialties once you put in a few years.

[Achiever1911]

I've heard that the OT is not endless but it is worth your while. I also heard the you can take OT or days off. I've heard of people taking the entire month of January or most of the summer off.

[Goldensun221]

USPP is basically what I'm doing now as a patrol officer, but just for less money.

I'd like to get more info/feedback on Supreme Court PD as far as quality of life, morale, etc. I feel like its more than just standing post.

[battlewagon]

USPP is basically what I'm doing now as a patrol officer, but just for less money.

I'd like to get more info/feedback on Supreme Court PD as far as quality of life, morale, etc. I feel like its more than just standing post.

Nah, that's pretty much it lol. They have assignments and teams, but they are probably one of the more static of the DC uniform gigs. At least USSS UD has Trek, Patrol, the same way USCP has a large patrol function.


Regardless, you're going to have to put time in at any uniform DC gig to not be on a static post. Sometimes it can be years, sometimes it can be relatively short (2-3 years) at places like UD since you get decent seniority at only 3 years in.

[Ratatatat]

I feel like its more than just standing post.

Standing post is boring as the dickens but sometimes it makes for interesting memories. Story to follow:


I spent my career working for agencies who didn't have EP as a primary duty, but occasionally were harnessed for additional manpower when needed. Most of the time enough volunteers would step forward when the request came for who's available to go on TDY, and I was perfectly cool with letting co-workers who wanted a litte OT and a break from the daily grind go have a halls and walls experience. Eventually though, we all have to pay the piper, and one year a mandate was issued that everyone would be volunteering (aka 'voluntold'), except those who were visibly pregnant or in termination proceedings. So off I went to the Big Apple to work EP for Big Cheeses from across the globe in town for a couple of weeks.

Clarification: when I say Big Cheeses, there's actually just a handful of big cheeses on the global stage, and the rest are medium or small cheeses, often from countries we only read about in grade school geography. Big cheeses like Vlad and Xi (back when they pretended to be our friends) arrive and make a speech, then quickly return to their autocratic empires because hanging out in the bastion of democracy for two weeks is the last thing they wish to do. But for the smaller cheeses, a couple of weeks in the Big Apple is a paid vacation and a respite from ruling over their impoverished realms. They stay in five star hotels, entertain guests in luxury suites, eat at the finest restaraunts, and let their wives shop at Louis Vuitton and Saks Fifth Avenue, all while under the protective umbrella of the G. It's not all folly- their staffers attend meetings, and they themselves get pictures taken with former US presidents or meet noted philanthropists in hopes of getting funding for a new school project or improvements to drinking water systems.

The big cheeses get specialized teams and big motorcades which leave the crowds of everyday people on the sidewalks to guess who is so important that streets get shut down and cops are suddenly everywhere. The smaller cheeses would get guys like me- volunteers and the voluntold from out of town, on assignment to make sure nothing bad happens during their visit.

90% of the assignment was mind-numbing tedium, standing outside a hotel room door for hours, rotating a handful of times during a shift. Luckily, I drew the 12p-12a shift, which was definitely livelier than the 12a-12p shift. In the afternoons, several military generals from the guest president's country would join me in the hall, wearing big hats and gray uniforms covered in medals. My attempts at saying 'hello' in their language would often result in befuddled looks but we all smiled and were polite. In the evenings, around 10pm, they would reconvene in the hall but now in bathrobes, pajamas, or just a pair of tighty-whities. Earlier, when in uniform, they carried themselves with military decorum, but at night they were much more relaxed... lots of joking and loud conversation and playful banter with their president when he would emerge from his suite to join the fun. Witnessing this dynamic every night will be a story for the grandkids.

When the protectee did decide to leave his room, it was a big procession down the hall to the elevator, then across the crowded hotel lobby and out to waiting cars. This of course would draw attention from the general public, which seemed counterintuitive, because if not for the entourage, no one would've paid any heed to someone they didn't recognize from a country they never heard of. And sometimes the press from their country would be waiting in the valet parking for a quick photo of their leader in America, and the next day the generals would show me pics of myself and other guys wearing dark suits and earpieces on the front page of their online national newspapers, holding open a car door or carrying shopping bags after a presidential trip to Macy's. It seems a bit surreal, looking back on the experience.

The routine continued for several days without incident, which is the goal. At times it was absurd, at times boring, and at times the minutes seemed like hours. About halfway into the TDY I walked into the command post (i.e.- adjacent hotel room) where my teammates and team leader (all from another agency) were chilling between post rotations. In a ham-handed attempt to express empathy, I said something along the lines of '"if this is what y'all do for your entire careers, you have my utmost sympathy." The team leader, who was eating a bowl of rice and gyro meat, suddenly stopped chewing and slowly looked in my direction. We had been friendly until then but for the remainder of the detail he was in my mess for whatever nit he could pick. Not that I didn't deserve it, I suppose.

Off duty time allowed for ample exercusions in a city I would never have visiited. I drank $20 gin and tonics at at bar and when I later asked a stranger on the sidewalk for directions back to my hotel, she flicked her fingers under her chin at me and walked away (I had only seen that done before on The Sopranos). I rented a bicycle and rode the entire circumference of Central Park, which took a good three hours. I ventured down an empty subway line to Battery Park and ferried to the Statue of Liberty and researched family history at the digital library at Ellis Island (family lore had always been my people originally hailed from a village in Ireland called Athy and there once was an 'O' in front of the last name but upon arrival, immmigration officials removed it, apparently concerned that being recognized as Irish ensured discrimination in the land of hope and dreams. Sure enough, the lore was confirmed when I saw several entries from the late 1800s of people with an 'O' in front of my last name from the village of Athy in the handwritten ledgers). I visited the Museum of Modern Art and saw some of the great pieces of American art, paintings I had only seen in books, like Christina's World Andrew Wyeth. Christina's World. 1948 | MoMA.

Other bonuses included free hotel meals for LEOs in the basement employee cafeteria, which of course was full of hungry cops and guys in suits with earpieces because there's nothing we love more than not paying for food when on per diem. It was mostly excess food from the buffet, but in a city where cheeseburgers cost $24, it was heaven sent. And I saw Times Square for the first time, the Naked Cowboy doing his schtick for adoring middle aged women and the ensemble of characters dressed up like Spiderman or Mickey Mouse taking selfies with tourists for a dollar. Interesting to note, Times Square is actually shaped like a triangle, something I never noticed when watching the ball drop on Dick Clark's New Year's Eve special.

Many of you probably went into TL;DR mode several paragraphs ago but my point is that standing post work, while mostly boring AF and hard on the feet, can be interesting and even amusing if one has the proper perspective....

[Goldensun221]

That was quite the read - sounds like USSS, which is notorious for endless EP assignments. After further digging on this site, it seems that the Supreme Court PD has a rotational assignments for EP. Not something that I would be excited to do but that's besides the point.

4 years of running and gunning as a local does get old after a while, so something more force protection oriented could be a welcomed change. The starting salary of Supreme Court PD is extremely competitive as well. ($73k base for entry, possible to negotiate for prior service + $10k sign on bonus). The ball is truly in our court for those of us who are certified LEO's looking for a new department.

At this point I guess it boils down to whether CBP offers me a good location. If they are dead set on shipping my butt off to the border, it'd be an easy decision for me to go with Supreme Court PD (should I receive an offer with them). Now if CBP offers me Dulles... That could be a difficult decision.

[Achiever1911]

Pentagon Protection Police and Capital Police are also options.

[John from Maryland]

Supreme Court Police attended active shooter training at the academy where I served as an instructor. We went so far as to set the tactical training area up to simulate the court room and cafeteria at USSC. The Supreme Court Police were certainly professional and well-trained, but the "walls and halls" comment seems to be accurate.

USSC PD has a surprising number of specialized units, but most are going to be small teams and/or adjunct assignments . Supreme Court just doesn't get far away from the building (apart from exec-protect and such). While not cities or counties, Capitol Hill and the White House complex have a fair amount of territory and USSS UD also has the foreign missions branch. USPP has parks and roads throughout the DC area (as well as NYC and SF). Supreme Court just doesn't have that. If you're looking to run and gun (or just get out and about), I'd look elsewhere than USSC.

[Etoolqual]

It would get quite old walking back and forth from 1st St NE to 2nd St NE over and over.

[dangerr101]

Do cbpo really get paid double for OT? If hr rate is 50 an hour then they make 100 a hour?

[merlin436]

I hope you realize how few non-supervisory CBPOs are paid $50 an hour. In the standard RUS pay locality with 2022 payrates, no GS-12s make $50 an hour.