EMT Qualified???

[airbornefergie]

Would getting EMT Qualified help on your application??

Is it something that you go through during the Academy??

I'm thinking about getting into an EMT program when I move to Burlington, CO next month. Might as well get some use out of my GI Bill right, lol.

[PhilipCal]

EMT Qualified

Would getting EMT Qualified help on your application??

Is it something that you go through during the Academy??

I'm thinking about getting into an EMT program when I move to Burlington, CO next month. Might as well get some use out of my GI Bill right, lol.

I don't see EMT Certification hurting you one bit in the process. On the other hand, it won't neccessarily give you an advantage over other applicants. Don't want to sound discouraging regarding the EMT Certification, but you'll need to test well in ALL phases of any hiring process. You get to the end of the process, and perhaps the Oral Board asks you about special skills. Yeah, it'll help. You roll up on a wreck, shooting, all the fun stuff cops and EMTs get to go on, yes, it will help. Good luck.

[OTVFD18]

I am an EMT and beginning the process of becoming an LEO. I was told by my recruiter almost word for word what PhillipCal said, it won't hurt, but it won't really help that much either. I enjoy being an EMT and I feel it does prepare me for some of the aspects of LE such as the blood and gore, hostile situations, trying to calm down histerical people, dealing with death, and the god awful amount of paperwork.

[airbornefergie]

Thank you for your replies, I am going to try and get into the class because thats why I want to be an LEO to help people and going through a class to better help me serve a community even if it wont help me get the job would make me feel so much better and more comfortable about serving a community as an LEO.

Realizing my first duties if blessed enough to be an LEO would be my policing duties but It will help me help the community by being EMT certified if I am the first responder to the situations such as PhilipCal mentioned.

Thanks again for your replies, everyone on Officer.com are such big helps through this preperation and application processes to become an LEO.

[ArkansasFan24]

Would getting EMT Qualified help on your application??

Is it something that you go through during the Academy??

I'm thinking about getting into an EMT program when I move to Burlington, CO next month. Might as well get some use out of my GI Bill right, lol.

If you're interested in becoming an EMT then do so. Sure, it will help, but what will help more is having worked as an EMT because you would have actively dealth with emergency scene management, fast-paced/high-stress environments, etc.

Most academies teach first aid, and some go as far as teaching National Registry First Responder curriculum. Others may do nothing. I don't know.

Use that G.I. Bill to get a full blown degree instead of merely passing the time in an EMT class. I'm an EMT-Paramedic. It's not a hard class, by any means, but it's not easy either. If you take the National Registry EMT exam, you'll find it quite challenging. If you're not interested in medical stuff then just don't bother because that's all it is.

[airbornefergie]

I'm almost done with an Associates in Criminal Justice.

After I go to an Academy I will have the other classes I need to finish the associates in either Law Enforcement or Criminal Justice.

I am Combat Life Saver Qualified from the military so I know how to do chest compressions and everything that comes along with that.

I just want to be EMT certified so I will know what to do when coming upon an accident or better know how to help a fellow officer or a citizen that has been shot.

My passion is law enforcement and criminal justice, being EMT/Paramedic qualified would be awesome though. I just dont think I would want to work on an ambulance full time.

[airbornefergie]

However I would not be opposed to working volunteer EMT or volunteer fire department or even a temp job while waiting to get into an academy and hired on as an LEO.

[irishlad2nv]

However I would not be opposed to working volunteer EMT or volunteer fire department or even a temp job while waiting to get into an academy and hired on as an LEO.

Just having your First-Aid/CPR will be sufficient enough for LE work. Once on the job, you will relaize that when you get called to a car accident scene, etc your first duties will not be to assist the victims, unless it's immediate. Your first duties will be to obtain the information from the victims and for the Fire Dept/EMT's arriving on the scene.

Use that GI Bill to get a degree, don't stop at just an AA, espcially in LE or CJ, shoot for something else that will come into good use. Just my .02

[airbornefergie]

What are the best degrees to get for an Law Enforcement Career??

[McPhenius]

I agree, getting it won't hurt.... But in the academy they would teach basic first responder, etc. Later on, it may help if the agency you work for has a Swat team with medic positions, but to get in a department, not a big plus, but not a minus either.

[irishlad2nv]

What are the best degrees to get for an Law Enforcement Career??

Any degree can help you. I am not disagreeing that you should stay away from a CJ degree, etc, however what if you don't get in hired in LE or end up not doing a career in LE? Then what. That's where having a degree in Sociology, Business Management will come in handy. A CJ degree will teach you what the Criminal Justice world is about, however I find that degree more helpful for parole/probation workers. Get a degree that you want and will be able to utilize 20 years from now.

[airbornefergie]

Cool thank you for the info, I actually have about 12 hours towards a business management degree then changed my major when I was in college.

That was 3 years ago. Maybe I could get back into more of those classes.

[ArkansasFan24]

Yeah, I didn't like working full-time on an ambulance. I did it for a while and found it distasteful. It's a handy part-time job though. It was great when I was teaching because I could easily fit in weekend shifts, those
"insignificant" holiday shifts, etc, and I got to lay around so much I was able to grade papers, prepare lessons, etc. You mentioned volunteer agencies. I've been affiliated with a volunteer fire dept. for five years. I joined after getting my EMT certification. They don't do a lot of EMS work, and I never had any intention of joining it. I was more or less talked into it and given a carrot to entice me, lol. (I was 19 and told by the v.f.d. chief [my next door neighbor] that the dept. would buy me a big, loaded EMT bag to tote around in my personal vehicle. ) I got a lot of jollies out of that for about six months. I still have it actually in one of my trucks.

Yes, being an EMT will prepare you for a lot of life's medical/traumatic emergencies, but it is just emergency preparedness. You don't really gain many primary care-type skills. Also, I find a lot of people that take the class just to be EMTs forget a lot meaning that they know what to do but can't get beyond the initial "wow, that person has a hole in his chest...now what?" phase.

You should definitely get a bachelor's degree in something and then more if you can. I'm looking into another master's program right now. I don't really advocate criminal justice programs. They don't carry any weight in other occupational fields, and you don't really learn anything that is, in my opinion, worth knowing. Sorry. However, I encourage you to major in whatever you are interested in. Honestly, if I were to go back in time and do it all over again, at the same college, I would probably have been a history major then gotten a master's in the same. I took science and business. (To do it again, I'd take only the science classes I actually wanted to take, lol.)

Being an EMT is a neat compliment to being a cop. People that find out (and I rarely admit my roles) I'm a cop and medic are usually impressed by it. I'm not sure why. It's not like I'm both an attorney and physician (which would impress me). They then ask akward questions that I don't like answering so prepare for that. Regardless, if you want to take the class then I strongly encourage it, but don't do it as a "well maybe this will help me be a cop" kind of thing. Do it because of a legitimate interest. It won't hurt you, but it's not going to help you a lot either. To help quantify it. Having taken the class and getting the certification is not going to help you enough to justify the investment of time used taking the class. Then again, if you go to work somewhere like the Maryland state police that has a paramedic helicopter service and seeks paramedic/troopers then you might luck out. ;-)

[OTVFD18]

I'm actually thinking of dropping my cert because the rule in EMS is if you don't use it you lose it and I certinanly don't use my certifcation enough. At times I don't feel like I'm prepared enough to treat my patients. I can continue to train and sharpen my skills but I don't really have the chances to practice in the field as much (I am too far away from my fire station to make the truck for rescue calls, so I only get to practice on patients in MVA's). However, I'm afraid that this will look bad in my background or interview as I am "giving up" or something. Any thoughts?