Working for your local Departments

[toby101]

Hey everyone,

I am just wondering how many of you guys or gals stayed in your area to work as a LEO. In my area, I know a lot of people and I have an opinion on everyone. So its just not fair for me or my clients to stay and work at my local department. Granted my town is just under 20,000 but I feel like I need to get a new start. And if that means moving away and not having a bias on people who I pull over then I guess its worth moving. What do you guys think.

[dvsmnstr]

I'm in the academy now, when I get out I will be working in my hometown.. I have lived here my whole life , worked at 2 local bars.. and know everybody. It's a small town about a square mile so I know who does what and also have an opinion on everyone. I was thinking of going a town or two over this way i'm not dealing with people I know every day.

A few of my friends also work in the this town and live here also, there are up's and downs. They like being close and can check on there families, no commute, know everyone.

They also hate it because they know everyone, house gets hit every year on halloween, his truck has been keyed up multiple times..

I guess it's a tricky situation, people just need to realize we are doing a job.

[Bodie]

Same area 25 miles from home then moved after 5 yrs of driving.

[acreature]

I moved 80 mi south of where I grew up, and I still occassionally get to hook someone I know, or knew, if you will.

[toby101]

I'm in the academy now, when I get out I will be working in my hometown.. I have lived here my whole life , worked at 2 local bars.. and know everybody. It's a small town about a square mile so I know who does what and also have an opinion on everyone. I was thinking of going a town or two over this way i'm not dealing with people I know every day.

A few of my friends also work in the this town and live here also, there are up's and downs. They like being close and can check on there families, no commute, know everyone.

They also hate it because they know everyone, house gets hit every year on halloween, his truck has been keyed up multiple times..

I guess it's a tricky situation, people just need to realize we are doing a job.

I think that would be the toughest thing ever is to arrest one of your best friends for DUI, domestic etc. And have them hate you forever.

[carty]

I think that would be the toughest thing ever is to arrest one of your best friends for DUI, domestic etc. And have them hate you forever.

I'd like to think if the person was actually your best friend then he'd understand you were just doing your job and may have in fact ended up helping him. I agree it would still be tough, though.

[Duke]

100 miles from my birth city...

[locke1419]

I like working in a area were I know everybody.

You may have to deal with people you know but atleast you if they good or bad which can keep you safe and help you preform you duties.

[Washingtonian]

I work about 2500 miles from where I grew up. I would HATE to work where i'd have to deal with people I grew up with, whether I liked them or not. I like to live a bit of a distance from where I work now, so while i'm off duty I don't run into people I've had to deal with while I was working. Keeping my personal/professional life separate is important to me.

[concon02]

I hope to work for a bigger city, so I'm not really worried about that kind of dilemma. Who knows what kind of PD I'll be fortunate to get on with at first though. It may need to be a local small town PD wherever I'm living at the time. :shrugs:

[PeteBroccolo]

I am about 3000 kms West of my birthplace, and have been away for almost 30 years. One of the MAJOR points I emphasize with potential applicants to my Force to consider before actually applying is, "Can you handle NOT working ANYWHERE remotely close to where you grew up?", and, "Can you handle NEVER being able to EVER be transferred back close to where you grew up?" IF they say, "Yes!", then they MIGHT make it through successfully.

My Force requires that we agree to being posted ANYWHERE in Canada after completion of basic training, and to being transferred frequently throughout our career. While we are allowed SOME say in where we are posted, the overriding concern is the good of the Force, and NOT NECESSARILY what we want as an individual.

Considerations of individual situations vis-a-vis postings HAVE improved greatly in the last 20 years - MOST applicants DO get posted back to their home Province, and those from British Columbia often return to their home town. However, B.C. has such a high need for replacements that, out of a 30 person troop graduating from our 25 week basic training course (training is on-going throughout the year, with a goal of 44 troops, or more, per year for the next few years), as many as half will be posted to B.C., and that often means people originally from the Atlantic Provinces will be sent out there.

Our Force encourages us to get involved with, and become knowledgeable of, the communities in which we are posted. You get well-versed in quickly learning about your community as you get moved around.

[dvsmnstr]

I know what you mean, sometimes we want to go out and play some pool at the local bars or whatever but end up running into people we had to lock up the night before.. it sux.

I would HATE to work where i'd have to deal with people I grew up with, whether I liked them or not.

Keeping my personal/professional life separate is important to me.

[PhilipCal]

working for local department

Pete actually gave you my reply, except my situation applied to the State of Alabama. Prior to graduation from the Academy,a trooper recruit is allowed to state a preference as to place of assignment. He/she may NOT be assigned to his home county. While individual preference is considered, it is understood that the needs/mission of the Department are the first consideration. Should you choose to remain in your home town, and provided your local department accepts you, it is inevitable you'll eventually encounter and old friend or aquaintence. You'll have to deal with that situation as it arises, and on a case by case basis. Duty is something that isn't always easy, but it's always duty.It's quite possible that you'll be required to arrest an old friend. No getting around that. If that prospect is too itimidating, then I would suggest you apply to another agency.

[DeputyGirl233]

Yep..I work in my hometown. And love it.

[Tim Dees]

Think about your closest buddy from high school. Could you bust him for drunk driving or hitting his wife, and walk away from it without believing that you had sold out? If so, go ahead and work in your home town, but know that someday you may have to do exactly that.