How old is too old to become an officer?

[TheKansan]

Too old at 30.............Man you make me feel old.

I completed the academy at age 32. There was a guy in my class who was 40.

[DeputySC]

We have a reserve deputy recently get hired as a full time deputy, put through the academy, complete FTO training, and now he is full time on the road. I feel wierd asking him his age, but he looks late 50s early 60s.....
I am glad I started when I was 20 due to retirement purposes.

[CACBAND]

Anyone transition from IT/Desk job, how was the change?

I did both IT and Interp before. Granted Interp was mostly indoors, there was some outdoors and tours mixed in.

[BanJoe]

A guy here just finished FTEP with flying colors.... He's 45 and did 15 years in IT before it burned him out...

Federal LEO jobs sometimes have an age cap.... And when I was looking to come back I saw a few agencies that have age limits...

Age is all in your head..... and knees (!)

[tick]

I started at 29..

[Aerohead]

crap! haha, do you think it makes you more marketable as being a cop?

Depends - I'm a hell of a lot more mature now than I would have been joining a PD at 18 right out of high school. I have years of good work and life experience under my belt and I can show that I stuck through it and obtained my degree. I'm still young enough to retire at a decent age also.

However, with age comes baggage, bills, and sometimes stupid mistakes that you have to explain. It can be a double edged sword.

[Aerohead]

Age is all in your head..... and knees (!)

Amen to that!

[vivithemage]

I can see the benefit of joining around 25-30 then...having some experience, compared to the age of 18.

Is it hard to transition from LEO to Federal?

[Aerohead]

I can see the benefit of joining around 25-30 then...having some experience, compared to the age of 18.

Is it hard to transition from LEO to Federal?

No freakin' clue...only advice I can offer is that they have an age cutoff for the feds (37) and you cannot have bad credit or large amounts of debt (as I was told by a special agent) to obtain a high security clearance, which that will depend on the agency that you choose...

Others may have more insight....

[vivithemage]

That is fine, low debt, just school debt + mortgage.

[Aussie Mike]

Started at 38. Not in marathon shape by no means but felt good when majority of the 20 something year old's failed the physical (over 50%) Plus I didn't have the "baby face" of a rookie when hitting the streets. Also got hired over younger apps because of my age/maturity Age does have an advantage. Oklahoma has an age limit of 45.

[vivithemage]

Good, gives me more confidence!

[Sgt Jack]

I started at 29..

Same here...youngest in my class was 20, oldest was 59.

[vivithemage]

Do they do academies a lot still? How does one apply to try out in the academy? What does your knowledge base need to be before joining the academy?

[willbird]

Heck Chuck Norris could neutralize 99% of sworn officers with just a soda straw, and look at how old he is ??

:-)