"The Wait"

[Blueline859]

Hello all!
New member here, thank you for the acceptance and the great information on here. I know this question has been asked several times in the past and it differs from department to department, but maybe some insight can be offered. Beginning of Oct last year, I started the application process for my local police department. I have completed all the steps and have been waiting for about 3 weeks now to hear something. The last i heard from my BI, she requested me to write a letter to the Chief explaining why I should be chosen over the other candidates. This was right after my background investigation was completed. When it comes to the selection process at this department, it is the Chiefs decision. The academy is set to start mid-late march. At this point, is "no news is still good news" still applicable? Should I consider contacting my BI if I don't hear back by this week? Any input/experiences would be appreciated.

[Aidokea]

Hello all!
New member here, thank you for the acceptance and the great information on here. I know this question has been asked several times in the past and it differs from department to department, but maybe some insight can be offered. Beginning of Oct last year, I started the application process for my local police department. I have completed all the steps and have been waiting for about 3 weeks now to hear something. The last i heard from my BI, she requested me to write a letter to the Chief explaining why I should be chosen over the other candidates. This was right after my background investigation was completed. When it comes to the selection process at this department, it is the Chiefs decision. The academy is set to start mid-late march. At this point, is "no news is still good news" still applicable? Should I consider contacting my BI if I don't hear back by this week? Any input/experiences would be appreciated.

Paragraphs, dude..paragraphs...

[Bing_Oh]

Leave the BI alone. It's not their decision whether to hire you or not.

Leave the Chief alone. He/she will tell you (usually via boilerplate rejection letter) if you get eliminated.

There are countless reasons you may have not heard anything, ranging from financials (it's the beginning of a new year and it usually takes at least a few weeks for governments to set up their financials for the new year), to changes in manpower, to that they just picked somebody else. Stop sitting there, staring at the mailbox with your phone in your hand waiting for news. Apply to multiple departments. Do things that will improve your resume.

[L-1]

While getting hired may be at the top of your priority list, filling a vacancy right now is far from the top of most government agencies’ priorities. At the moment, law enforcement agencies are focused on far more important things and deciding on filling a vacancy is in the “We’ll get to it when we get to it” pile.

If you haven’t noticed, many agencies have been sitting on pins and needles over the past few weeks waiting to see if the country will erupt into civil unrest. Even if you are applying to a Podunk department that is far from a civil disturbance flashpoint, they may be part of your states Mutual Aid program and required to send officers somewhere in the state if things go to crap. Their time could well have been spent determining who they will spare, setting aside what equipment will go with them, preparing alternate work schedules for the officers that will be left behind and devising deployment revised deployment places for the skeleton crew that might remain. As the crisis appears to have not materialized, they will slowly unpack everything and go back to normal schedules in a less hurried manner, eventually picking up where they left off.

Picking up where they left off means budget time for the admin types that would normally be involved in your hiring and firing. Most government agencies work on a fiscal (budget) year that runs from July 1^st to June 30^th. January of each year is when you start you budget planning for the upcoming fiscal year budget. This inclused determining how many positions you will be able to sustain within your allocated personnel funds, how much equipment you can buy, how many patrol cars you can replace, how many civil suits you can afford to lose, how much training you can pay for, how many ticket books you can but, just to name a few. It not just a matter of plugging in the numbers, but getting prices and projecting cost increases over the next 18 months on each and every item. It is a daunting and time consuming task. If you get it wrong, 10 months into the fiscal year your department may run out of money, you may have to lay off the entire police department and your jurisdiction could go without protection. Obviously, that can’t be allowed to happen, so things like getting Blueline 859 hired take on the importance of……….well, I’ll let you fill in the rest.

There is a mantra you will hear throughout your entire law enforcement career. Memorize it now – Hurry up and wait.

And to second what Aidokea said - Paragraphs Dude, paragraphs.