CA DMV INvestigator

[emerorlincoln]

A little curious if anybody here has been or known a DMV investigator. Is there any insight that can be shared with me?

[Blizz]

A little curious if anybody here has been or known a DMV investigator. Is there any insight that can be shared with me?

I have a good friend that is a retired DMV Investigator.

[Iowa #1603]

I too have a friend that is a retired CA DMV Investigator


I know SEVERAL Iowa DMV Investigators

[FlyingPig1]

I worked with them quite a bit when I was in CA. Decent job. A lot of paper crimes, dealing with shady dealerships, stolen car rings. The area I worked got pretty heavy into the organized crime aspect of the crooked car dealerships. Guys interact a lot with task forces as well. Document fraud as it relates to DMV documents, titles, fake Driver License mills. Depending on your office it can be very diverse or it can be a lot of sitting at a desk. I did a lot of surveillance work with them. Seemed interesting enough.

[emerorlincoln]

Do you happen to know if they receive a decent amount of OT? Weaponry, take home cars? Seems like ot is neccessry with the not so great salary.

[moparfan]

if you base a job on the availability of OT to make up to live then you are looking in the wrong career field. OT comes and goes you learn to live off the salary you make. When OT comes you save and pay off bills or save and buy a new ride in CASH. You never factor OT into you basic living. Don't worry about the OT. Look at the salary if it does not meet your needs or if you can not cut things so it can then keep looking

[Retired96]

Depending on OT can really bite you in the butt..... My last few years in patrol we had massive amounts of overtime.. One Deputy and his Deputy wife bought a 700k home figuring their huge OT checks would help with their huge house payment...All was good for about 2 years and the OT dried up... Deputy and his wife couldn't make their whopping house payment and ended up losing their home that they never should have bought in the first place...

[hbliam]

Depending on OT can really bite you in the butt..... My last few years in patrol we had massive amounts of overtime.. One Deputy and his Deputy wife bought a 700k home figuring their huge OT checks would help with their huge house payment...All was good for about 2 years and the OT dried up... Deputy and his wife couldn't make their whopping house payment and ended up losing their home that they never should have bought in the first place...

Sounds like they had other money management issues as two deputies should easily be able to make the payment on a 700K house with zero overtime.

[hbliam]

Do you happen to know if they receive a decent amount of OT? Weaponry, take home cars? Seems like ot is neccessry with the not so great salary.

OT: Already answered.
Weaponry: Who cares? They are just tools. Our MP5's were good armrests in the patrol cars. Of all the jobs in law enforcement, if you want to deal with weaponry, the DMV shouldn't be your first choice.

We had a class by a DMV investigator once. He spent a good amount of time trying to tell us he was a cop. We didn't care either way but he sure did.

[Retired96]

Sounds like they had other money management issues as two deputies should easily be able to make the payment on a 700K house with zero overtime.

This was 25 years ago and we didn't make nearly as much as they do now....Both of their salaries wasn't near enough to make the house payment and other bills...

[NightRover]

As hbliam said, if you are looking at a job with the DMV and are concerned with "weaponry," you are looking for LAPD or something more action packed. Not the DMV. Most guys that work in investigative jobs could care less about what kind of gun they use as long as it fired because they are doing investigations not patrol work. All the kick in door stuff and whatnot is usually done by local/county/state guys when enforcement action outside of the norm is needed for an investigation case.

[eagleI]

If you are looking at a State job, keep in mind you could be assigned to LA, Sac, SF or Fresno & I think the pay is all the same. Cost-of-living is way different. State jobs are tough especially when the budget isn't settled by 6/30 & pay is on hold. Talk to someone doing the job before you apply/commit.

[dramacydal]

Are you post certified ? if not don't even waste your time applying. I have applied to that agency over 150 times and never have I received a call for an interview. even with a high score on the exam.

[ateamer]

You have applied with CA DMV 150 times? Right...

[CCCSD]

Well... Sometimes it IS hard to pass the driving test...