Lateral from Florida??

[ryeclift]

Hoping one of you could answer my question. I’m an LEO in Florida and was wondering if it were possible to do a lateral transfer from FL to NJ. I’m from NJ and would like to go back. Preferably without having to repeat a police academy. If it is possible what are the steps I would have to take in order to do a lateral? If it is not possible does anyone know if NY or PA would accept my Florida certification?

Also from what I understand the waiting list to get hired in NJ is painstakingly long. What is a realistic time frame I should expect to have to wait?

Thanks and stay safe up there!
Rye

[Kpdpipes]

Hoping one of you could answer my question. I’m an LEO in Florida and was wondering if it were possible to do a lateral transfer from FL to NJ. I’m from NJ and would like to go back. Preferably without having to repeat a police academy. If it is possible what are the steps I would have to take in order to do a lateral? If it is not possible does anyone know if NY or PA would accept my Florida certification?

Also from what I understand the waiting list to get hired in NJ is painstakingly long. What is a realistic time frame I should expect to have to wait?

Thanks and stay safe up there!
Rye

You wont be able to do a Direct Lateral from another state. You'd jhave to come up and take the Civil Service test (or Chief's test if its that kind of agency) and go through the regular Hiring process. As far as the Academy, im not really sure. If you Google NJ Police Training Commission, they're the ones to ask, they are responsible for the certifications. You'd Still have to do a Portion of the Academy at the least, but you might get to miss some of the more silly nonsense.

[justice12]

If you are within 3 years of graduating from an out of state or federal academy, the NJ PTC *may* accept your training and give you a waiver. Getting a waiver means you only have to go through parts of the academy and can start working right away.

As far as getting hired in NJ, you are SOL for civil service unless you have NJ residency (and 99% of the time you need local residency in the town for which you want to work). To do this right, you would have to move to NJ in time for the next civil service registration. If you find an address you can use, you might be able to use that address to take the test without actually moving from Florida. It really depends on the agency, some will actually investigate whether you really lived there and some don't care. I can't say I would really recommend doing that, as it seems fraudulent to me.

Your other option is non civil service PD's and other agencies that do law enforcement in NJ. These agencies for the most part don't care where you live until they hire you. Besides non civil service township police, here are some other LE agencies here that you can try for:

NY/NJ Port Authority PD
Delaware River Port Authority PD
Delaware River and Bay Authority PD
NY/NJ Waterfront Commission PD
NJ Transit Police
County Prosecutor's Offices (plainclothes detectives only)
Attorney General's Office (plainclothes only)

[wilmington]

info

Ryeclift,

I was in LEO in North Carolina. I got a job up in NJ and am currently in another academy. Like Justice said, being out of state, you will NOT be able to take the Civil Service exam, which is what I will safely say most of the agencies use to hire. I could have used my family member's address up here, but again like Justice said, agencies may investigate or ask you to "stop in later today" to pick something up and what are you going to say then? "um..well im not really in NJ, let me explain". As we know in this profession you have to be 100% honest with day 1, otherwise it will come back to bite you at some point. So that leaves agencies that utilize the "chief's test". What I did, is I used this site, go to the state link, and you can view almost every department in NJ. When you find places that are hiring, and are chief's test, put in your application. I know right now, Northfield NJ is taking applications for their chief's test. I found an agency that was large like my former dept, and in an area that I would want to live. Luckily it all worked out for me, and here I am back in my home state.

As for the academy part. Yes the NJ PTC is what deems if you can transfer or not. Effective January of this year, if you are more than 3 years out of academy, no matter where you worked, you MUST go through a NJ police academy. However you may find yourself doing the same anyway. I was within the 3yr mark, however getting the waiver from NJ is very difficult. You cannot call the PTC to find out what you need to take to be certified in NJ. You have to be HIRED by an agency, and then the agency submits all of your training and certification certificates to the state. They then reply with what you need to do to be certified in the state. They will not even look at your creds until you are hired by an agency and the agency submits this info, and documentation showing that you are an employee. In my case, the soonest academy was starting right when the agency hired me. It would have taken too long for the PTC to come back with the info (sometimes months) so my agency made the concious decision to just send me through the entire academy. As for being in academy again, it stinks, its not fun, you know what an academy is like though. Every day is just another day toward graduation, and being back on the street again. Plus im in better shape then I was now (almost halfway done) then I've ever been in my life.

I hope all that info helps. Good luck in whatever you decide! And if you are thinking about moving to be closer to family, TRUST ME, it is definitely worth it!