Cant decide where to apply, im scared of a lot of departments and there support.

[usmc111]

I live in the Western area of the united states. Specifically Oregon

I have been trying to become a police officer now for about a year, but with all the unrest and lack of support, I don't really know where to go at this point... Im open to really any place that actually lets police officers do their jobs and support them.

my father was a police officer for 27 years retired, he is a salty old school cop who started back in the '80s. He tells me every time I talk to him about law enforcement that I should find a different career because no one supports you anymore and the police chiefs, sheriffs, and elected officials are willing to throw you to the wolves faster than anything to save their pensions. He tells me that everyone is a yes man and no one has the balls anymore to stand up for what is right.

and I mean I kind of agree with him... It's sad

Portland is a war zone with homicides be up 327% & gun violence up like 127%. They absolutely hate the police there and want to destroy them. Police get no support from the elected officials and on top of that, they are removing qualified immunity here, or at least they are trying to. From what I hear Seattle is horrible also.

I guess im making this post to ask is it really that bad for police today? Does no one really support you...

If I could pick somewhere to go it would be a state/city that has not defunded and never will. States/cities that let their police officers actually be police officers. I listen to donut operator a lot and he recently put out a video named "Suspect Mag Dumped after Ambushing Cops - police breakdown" and in the video, he stated that sheriffs and police chiefs in Florida and Texas are a completely different bread. What I think he means by this is that law enforcement officers in Florida and Texas are not the "gentle", "soft-touch type" willing to dismantle the whole police department and accept this defunding bull crap.

Some states im interested in are Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, some parts of Washington because it's close to home.

States I would never want to work are California or New York


So yeah I dont know where to go?

[not.in.MY.town]

I live in the Western area of the united states. Specifically Oregon

I have been trying to become a police officer now for about a year, but with all the unrest and lack of support, I don't really know where to go at this point... Im open to really any place that actually lets police officers do their jobs and support them.

my father was a police officer for 27 years retired, he is a salty old school cop who started back in the '80s. He tells me every time I talk to him about law enforcement that I should find a different career because no one supports you anymore and the police chiefs, sheriffs, and elected officials are willing to throw you to the wolves faster than anything to save their pensions. He tells me that everyone is a yes man and no one has the balls anymore to stand up for what is right.

and I mean I kind of agree with him... It's sad

Portland is a war zone with homicides be up 327% & gun violence up like 127%. They absolutely hate the police there and want to destroy them. Police get no support from the elected officials and on top of that, they are removing qualified immunity here, or at least they are trying to. From what I hear Seattle is horrible also.

I guess im making this post to ask is it really that bad for police today? Does no one really support you...

If I could pick somewhere to go it would be a state/city that has not defunded and never will. States/cities that let their police officers actually be police officers. I listen to donut operator a lot and he recently put out a video named "Suspect Mag Dumped after Ambushing Cops - police breakdown" and in the video, he stated that sheriffs and police chiefs in Florida and Texas are a completely different bread. What I think he means by this is that law enforcement officers in Florida and Texas are not the "gentle", "soft-touch type" willing to dismantle the whole police department and accept this defunding bull crap.

Some states im interested in are Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, some parts of Washington because it's close to home.

States I would never want to work are California or New York


So yeah I dont know where to go?

Listen to your dad!

[Bing_Oh]

Listen to your dad!

Yep, he sounds like a wise man.

Look, I'm approaching the end of my career. I still work in a community that's relatively supportive of LE...we don't have anti-LE protests or "defund the police" movements. That being said, if I had it all to do over again, I wouldn't...and I wouldn't recommend one of my children do it, either. The profession is in a shambles. Even in pro-LE communities, LEO's are hamstrung by the administrative fear of liability. You can't "do your job" like your dad could...heck, you can't do your job like *I* could less than 20 years ago! You're now "guilty until proven innocent" (and even then, sometimes still guilty) as a LEO, and that opens up a threat to personal liability and even criminal prosecution. The benefits have, by and large, been stripped out of the profession (retirement, health care, time off, etc, are even or worse than you'll find in the private sector). The reality is, there's little benefit to going into LE today.

If you're planning to get into the profession, go in with your eyes open. There are still plenty of pro-LE communities in the Bible Belt, flyover states, and southwest. But, personally, I wouldn't.

[CCCSD]

Sage responses.

[Iowa #1603]

As stated above

LISTEN TO YOUR FATHER

As a semi-retired officer with a total of 43 plus yrs of experience I would not advise ANYONE to get into the profession right now. Nope........no way I would be able to "police" the way almost every officer is restricted to today.

That being said.................................There is a lot of support for LE out there EVERYWHERE. I still work in uniform part time for a small Sheriff's Office as a transport officer. i go all over the state (and Midwest) picking up prisoners as well as work as a Court Security Officer, and DAILY get thanked for my service & have people offer to buy my lunch or my coffee when I am out and about.

For the most part the Upper Midwest is very good to LE if you stay AWAY from the major cities. i would assume the "Bible Belt" is similar.

[BNWS]

It doesn't matter where you work or if your community is pro law enforcement, the national media will second guess you and destroy you.

[Ratatatat]

I worked in Oregon in the 1990s. On the east side, where cattle outnumbered people and Claude Dallas was a folk hero. Beautiful country the Oregon high desert is... get yourself a big pewter belt buckle and a Roper shirt for the interview and renounce your westsider upbringing. They'll be skeptical at first but as soon as you tamp a wad of Copenhagen into your lip, they'll know you're for real.

[not.in.MY.town]

i go all over the state (and Midwest) picking up prisoners as well as work as a Court Security Officer, and DAILY get thanked for my service & have people offer to buy my lunch or my coffee when I am out and about.

Well, at least those nice LE-supporting folk can mail you thank-you letters and fund your commissary account when you wind up in prison for doing your job.

[emtguy89]

Don't work for an agency that doesn't have a union, that isn't in a state with a pretty strong Police Bill of Rights. Florida comes to mind. Or try a federal agency. It takes an act of Congress to fire a good local officer with a bill of rights and union, but an act of God to fire a fed.

[Aidokea]

Your dad sounds like a smart man.

I am retired from a law enforcement career spanning 30 years. I started out in Portland Oregon in 1991.

I worked out of North Precinct in St. Johns before Northeast Precinct was built. I worked the Rodney King Riots, Columbia Villa, The Void, and the gang wars in inner northeast between the Crips and the Bloods. It was not great back then, but at least the officers had a union.

I then finished out my law enforcement career with a higher-paying police department in a very liberal place, also with a union. Over the years, it got worse and worse. The last 10 years were a steep decline. Everyone was so jumpy, even good people would throw an officer under the bus to try to save their own pension. During that time, I was MUCH more concerned about what politically-motivated shenanigans the brass would try to pull on me, than ANYTHING that a violent felon might try to do to me on the road. Several times, I had to defend myself against bull$hit investigations by someone who had weaponized the disciplinary system. After it was all said and done, the only discipline on my record is for crashing a patrol car. I took my punishment like a man, because I deserved it- I messed up. But defending myself against the bogus ones really took a toll on me- there were times when I was unable to eat or sleep for days.

I was seriously injured in the line of duty in 2018, and never went back on the road after that. I retired in 2020, after reconstructive surgery and lots of physical therapy, so I wasn't on the road when Fentanyl Floyd expired while resisting arrest for yet another felony, but I felt the fallout, as I will explain.

After my retirement, we moved back to Portland Oregon, so that my wife could care for her mom. While I was there, I was recruited to provide armed plainclothes protective services for the television news crews covering the riots in downtown Portland. I have been neck-deep in that stuff, and I can tell you that you'd have to be [email protected] insane to apply with the Portland Police Bureau right now. Crucifying police officers has become a city-wide pass time.

You can try Texas (where we ultimately purchased our ranch) or Florida, if you want. In the Democrat-run cities, like Austin, Houston, San Antonio, and so on, it's probably going to be almost as bad as Portland. In the rural areas, I hear that it's better, but in the year 2021, you're always going to be subject to some degree of these troubles. And to make matters worse, I hear that cops are not union down here, and they don't make nearly as much money.

So again, your dad sounds like a smart man.

[Winter_Patriot]

Do you think it’s much better with Multnomah or Washington County? I’d applied to both before getting my current job. One of my classmates from college is a deputy with Washington County and says he regrets going there instead of a fire department.

[Aidokea]

I don't know, man. They're country sheriff's departments, not city police departments. And if you're familiar with the Portland metropolitan area, you know that Washington, Clackamas, and Multnomah counties are basically just suburbs of Portland proper, so the population is still made up mostly of Democrats. And the Max is very capable of transporting Portland's problems into those suburbs.

[Winter_Patriot]

True, cities like Beaverton/Hillsboro/Tigard are basically Portland but slightly less weird. Twenty years ago, I thought that those cities were a bit more conservative than Portland, but that's probably not accurate right now. The people who want to live in Portland but can't afford to, they've started occupying surrounding counties.

[angeredmgmt]

I’m still in the belief that most communities are pro LE even though it is reported differently. The news media’s narrative will keep LE always on edge. As y’all know, calling 911 is to have someone else deal with problems people don’t want to deal with or can’t deal with. 911 is still a very popular number to be called everywhere there is a 911 system. I’m sure you’ve seen news stories of defunders, BLMers, etc still calling 911 to handle something they didn’t want to or couldn’t handle.

I keep trying to get it through to people trying to get into LE, don’t look at the large departments, but investigate the smaller ones in not so bad communities. A lot of people instantly assume large cities are where you start since they are most familiar with them, but there are countless smaller departments to consider.

Some smaller departments or other LE opportunities are not on the radar unless you are networked and/or are experienced. One of those opportunities is being a bailiff for a judge. Another is a state investigator. If you knew how many LE positions were out there, you’d have a sunnier outlook when it came to a desire for a career in LE.

Here in Texas, you can’t go 10’ without bumping into someone with a badge and a gun. I live in a rural community on a 1/4 mile long street. Other than me, there is a lesbian couple who are both Austin PD, a sheriff’s patrol deputy further down, and a few houses down from him, a fire marshal. That’s 5 Texas peace officers right there. I don’t know all peace officers in my neighborhood, but I’ve counted 14, which again, included me.

Not telling you to come here to Texas, but there are LE jobs with community support if you want them. Other departments will try to recruit you if you are already an officer from another jurisdiction. Pay is increasing in order to recruit or maintain officers.

In reference to community support, we have a lot. I’m always being thanked for my service by someone, and I haven’t heard anything negative yet. More liberal areas will have the majority of obvious anti LE sentiment, but again, there is still LE support in those areas even though it may not be obvious.

LE IS service to the community. If you sign up for it, just try to understand the meaning of ‘service.’ In relation to LE, it is an actual sacrifice due to the toll it takes on your mind and body, and don’t forget how it affects your family. That’s another can of worms.

[just joe]

Probably 28 or so years ago I was talking to an officer who was coming to the end of his 35 plus year career and he said that he wouldn't start a career "now." It is the mantra that all of the old heads pass down from generation to generation. There are certainly challenges that didn't exist two years ago, and policing has changed since I started decades ago, but there are still a lot of people and communities who support their police. The landscape is constantly evolving. That said, if I was going to start a career today, I would start far away from the left coast.

[Aidokea]

...or the east coast...or really anywhere that Democrats control...

[angeredmgmt]

The job, at least for me anyway, has really changed from when I get the street early April '91. I patrolled my district looking for violations of law and to be visible in an attempt to deter crime. I responded to calls for service, and I completed reports, including arrest reports.

Even though we had some IBM selectrics in my early days, we still had manual typewriters at our satellite stations which we had to complete our reports on. As time went by, we progressed to better typewriters and then to computers. We also carried pagers which received each call for service as well as an other information we needed sent to us from Dispatch we didn't want to receive over the radio. We got computers in our units along with dash cameras, and close to the time I was to retire, we started getting body worn cameras. There were other advances and improvement in equipment and technology, but you know, to this day, I still patrol my district looking for violations of law and to be visible in my attempt to deter crime. I respond to calls for service, complete reports, including arrest reports. So what I'm saying is the job is still the job. You will still do police work even though the tools or the rules change over time.

Again, again, again, LE is a community service so just understand that your very existence is to do just that. The public isn't there for you, but you exclusively for them. When you show up for assistance, you be the officer that you want to show up when you need assistance. I always told my guys to work for me like our department head was sitting in their unit's front seat or standing next to them at a call for service. Department heads want law and order, but they also want to remain in their appointment to their position or they want to be re-elected to their position. Try to find that balance.

Quickly, I wanted to get into LE after my military service because I wanted something that would keep my interest and where I wasn't confined to an office or building. I've always been a do-gooder so LE fit the bill, especially since I like to drive fast and to carry guns. As I matured an my Christian faith, I saw that I could positively affect far more people than I could as a civilian since the nature of LE is to serve the public. No saying you have to be a Christian to be a LEO, but seeing people as being loved by God even though they are fleshly animals focused me on the bigger picture.

[Aidokea]

Amen......

[SOCAleo]

Great post, thanks for reminding me in that last paragraph of the "bigger picture!"

[CCCSD]

Don’t forget to pick up the newspapers and put them with the mail on the porch.

[Iowa #1603]

Well, at least those nice LE-supporting folk can mail you thank-you letters and fund your commissary account when you wind up in prison for doing your job.

I don't know.............................we just had a fatal OIS where 5, yes FIVE officers fired on a guy running at them with a knife.

The Iowa Attorney General's office reviewed the Investigation by the Iowa DPS....................and cleared them in 16 days

This is the midwest....................and RURAL Midwest at that.