My biggest fear in the LE career....

[D.o.D cop]

Isn't getting shot or seriously hurt (although it should be), but is surviving the career. What i mean, is I have this deep, deep fear I'm going to screw up and get fired, or do something wrong to get fired. I actually have nightmares about it.

I guess it stems from me loving the job, and I would hate to lose it, as I have seen several people do, although I wouldn't call them friends, and they were just freaking wierd. I wondered why thet even got hired to begin with.

How many of you guys dealth with that?

[L-1]

I can't speak to your fear of getting fired. Only you know how much of a screw up you are (or aren't).

While worrying about being fired from time to time is not unusual, there is another condition you may not be aware of. It's called, "being fireproof". What that means is, the day you hit the minimum retirement age, you come to realize that if you really screw up big time, you can file your retirement papers faster (a couple of hours) than it will take them to fire you (usually a couple of months). When you become fireproof, you gain a new level of confidence and are less afraid to speak your mind about department matters. However, you also need to be careful about your new found status. If you don't keep yourself in check, you might develop an, "I Don't Give a Crap," attitude and the brass will mumble under their breath and grind their teeth each time they hear your name, because they know how much havoc you can reek before they can fire you. That is not a place you want to be at.

[aftermath]

Fear of getting fired is there in all jobs, but a job you love, it's just magnified in your mind. After probation, when you have the union watching your tail, it helps lighten the load, and as was mentioned, retirement is always nice to look forward to. Just do your job to the best of your abilities and keep your head out of your butt and you'll be A O K.

[D.o.D cop]

Fear of getting fired is there in all jobs, but a job you love, it's just magnified in your mind. After probation, when you have the union watching your tail, it helps lighten the load, and as was mentioned, retirement is always nice to look forward to. Just do your job to the best of your abilities and keep your head out of your butt and you'll be A O K.

Well right now, I'm listening, no talking except to ask questions, I do as I'm told with no talk back or second guessing, and am giving it 110%, as I can say I have never done with any other job.

The only things I'm having a problem with right now are my Sgt is telling me to do my reports one way, and my FTO another, so I get a little confused and frustrated, but keep it to myself.

The other thing I guess I'm having an issue with is my FTo says I need to be more "personable". First off, in my opinion, and that's all it is is an opinion, I'm not there to make these people my best friend, but on the same note I'm trying to be as friendly as possible. I'm a pretty laid back guy, easy going, people like to be around kinda guy....and my FTo says I'm not personable....I don't know what he the hell I'm doing wrong...

My fto says it must be the Marine in me, as I do it exactly like another former Marine in my department.

Don't know,

[Woofdog]

Isn't getting shot or seriously hurt (although it should be), but is surviving the career. What i mean, is I have this deep, deep fear I'm going to screw up and get fired, or do something wrong to get fired. I actually have nightmares about it.

I guess it stems from me loving the job, and I would hate to lose it, as I have seen several people do, although I wouldn't call them friends, and they were just freaking wierd. I wondered why thet even got hired to begin with.

How many of you guys dealth with that?

Don't worry. If you work for DoD, it takes an act of Congress for you to get fired. And I wouldn't lose any sleep over getting shot, either.

[D.o.D cop]

Don't worry. If you work for DoD, it takes an act of Congress for you to get fired. And I wouldn't lose any sleep over getting shot, either.

I no longer work for DoD.

[Deputy31]

I understand the fear of being fired. I love the job I do and I've heard stories of officers getting fired (usually resulting from the court of public opinion) for doing their job. I can't speak for every department but its fairly difficult to get fired in mine. The best advice I can give is go out there and do your job. Most the time I see an officer get in trouble its because he/she failed to act not because he/she did something wrong.

Don't waste your time worrying about things you can't control. Don't expect to get fired, if you do you'll cripple your ability to do your job.

[MPSoldier84]

Don't worry. If you work for DoD, it takes an act of Congress for you to get fired. And I wouldn't lose any sleep over getting shot, either.

After 3 years it takes an act of congress... 1st year probation it doesn't take much, and the 2 years career conditional you still really have to screw up.

Even so.. you'll probably still work for the Federal Government, just as a custodian or something. The sad part is.. you'll probably end of making more money....

Also.. not all DOD Bases are completely safe. Ft. Dix doesn't have much luck these days. There was that shooting 4 years ago that killed a trooper when an MP went crazy and stole a DOD Police Cruiser.. and than they nearly got shot up by 6 pizza delivery men....

[D.o.D cop]

Come on guys, I've stated a couple of times now, that I no longer work for DoD...I'm a state certified LEO.....I love it compared to Dod....

[Gulf Po Po]

Fear of getting fired

I don't fear getting fired for something as much as I fear what I would do if I weren't on the job. What in the hell else am I supposed to do? I've waited my whole life for this, and made it okay for 5 years now. But, if it ended... Wal Mart? Loss Prevention somewhere? The pay would probably be better anyway.

[h8tweekers]

You can't worry about either. All you can do is use your head and hope for the best. I have been seriously injured on the job so I know the fear of losing your job. My older brother was also hurt (his problem I think was Superman syndrome) and had to take a medical retirement.

If you focus on the bad it is just going to make things worse. We had a guy who worried so much about what could happen he ended up resigning which really sucked as he was a great cop.

Enjoy the job.

[Shield529]

Your fear is not unfounded. This is one of the few professions where you can do everything right 100% of the time and still lose your job on go to prison.

One person makes an outlandish claim aganist you and you cannot prove it false. You will be shown to the door. Female claims you touched her. You cannot prove that you did not touch her. You will go to jail. anger a few co-workers and have them claim they remember details of an incident a little different than you do. Write a slightly diffrent report from yours. If its more than one of them making a claim it happened one way and your report states it happened another. Guess what? You are out the door or going to jail.

I every instance you could have done everything right, but you still lose.

Still want to do the job?

[Doc_STA]

The correct answer to that question in my opinion, shield, is an uncategorical yes.

My FTO said a similar thing to me, DOD. I also went into a police agency right out of the marines, and I wasn't used to the idea of treating all these people as friends - I saw them all as threats. A helpful bit of advice that I got drilled into me: as a law enforcement officer, your imperative is to protect the people you see every day: protect them from others, and protect them from themselves. Every person is a POTENTIAL threat - all it takes is one nut with a gun, one ridiculous girl who makes a false claim, but that's the reason you became a police officer, isn't it?

You are doing what you are, I hope, to help keep the people around you safe and to enforce the laws that they have put on themselves - if that means smiling at them, getting to know them, learning their names and habits - all the better; that sort of thing not only builds community trust, but also provides you good human intelligence sources when you need information on something. You have, by taking the time to get to know people personably in your community, created your own little network of confidential informants.

Conversely, if it means coming to realize that you need to create job security for yourself by assuring that all opposite sex encounters are duly and impartially recorded, preferably with witnesses, and by taking time to get acquainted and become friendly with your coworkers and administrators, there is no harm there either.

These are both necessary paths to assure a long, and productive, career within our most noble of professions. If you treat people by the angle of the square, it will be returned to you in job satisfaction and recognition.

[Gene L]

Isn't getting shot or seriously hurt (although it should be), but is surviving the career. What i mean, is I have this deep, deep fear I'm going to screw up and get fired, or do something wrong to get fired. I actually have nightmares about it.

I guess it stems from me loving the job, and I would hate to lose it, as I have seen several people do, although I wouldn't call them friends, and they were just freaking wierd. I wondered why thet even got hired to begin with.

How many of you guys dealth with that?

I'm no doctor, but I think what you have is a condition called "Anxiety." It's treatable with medication. PTS is a form of anxiety, and I have PTS syndrome, bigtime.

Go see a doctor. It's no big deal, we all have it about something or another, but since you can name the cause of your unreasonable fear, it should be much easier to treat.

[D.o.D cop]

I've got a few months on the job since I posted this thread, and I'm about to be released from FTO. I've really caught on to the game, and things click now. I've been doing traffic stops on my own without an FTO over my shoulder, and seem to do fine, although I hate to say I've seem to be gathering a fan club from the local populace.

Most of my arrestee's like me, and if they got to get arrested they say they would prefer me because I treat them as a human, quote unquote. I guess I'll be fine now, and I don't stress over it so much now. I just go to work and try to enjoy the day.

Now all I'm waiting on is my radar and laser certificate to get here to have some real fun.