Future in law enforcement

[mountainman]

Hello there.

I'm planning on going to John Jay University in NYC when i graduate from High School, in a year or so. I've wanted to be involved with law enforcement for quite a while, and I just found out about John Jay University, so i'm pretty excited. My question is, if/once I get hired into the NYPD after all my schooling and whatnot, what are my options for future jobs? I'm really interested in something like FBI or CIA, or any other "intelligence" agency. I don't even know much about the two of them, or any other, and I know it's most likely very hard to get in, but I'd like to try, once "my time comes". What I'd like to know is, where can I find information about getting into one of those federal agencies? Would I need law enforcement experience (ex. NYPD) before I "applied", or would education be enough? What could I do now/in the future to better my chances of being hired? Do you have to be offered these positions or can you apply directly to *insert agency here*?

I'm sure this topic is beaten half to death by now, but this forum is big and it would take a pretty long time to search for this topic .

ANY help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

-Matt

[207]

Mountainman on Long Island?? j/k

What is your goal? What do you want to do. Do you have a specific field you wish to enter? Forensics, Computer crimes, Accounting/Business, etc. Federal has many specialized areas not only in Justice & Law although it is usually required.

If your goal is the NYPD then go for it. I would not worry to much about "future jobs" at this point. Nowadays jumping from agency to agency is not that easy plus most agencies required you to be employed with them for at least 2-3 years (some require you to sign a contract) or you have to reimburse them for the costs of the academy not to mention the fact that you may receive a not to favorable recommendation on you next job.
I would suggest that you research the agencies thoroughly, visit them if necessary (you have a few years to do it) and select the field that suits you. You may not get it right away, if fact you may receive many rejections. Just don't give up.

[Don]

If you have not already done so, why don't you visit this FBI Employment site!

[ateamer]

Originally posted by 207:



Nowadays jumping from agency to agency is not that easy plus most agencies required you to be employed with them for at least 2-3 years (some require you to sign a contract) or you have to reimburse them for the costs of the academy not to mention the fact that you may receive a not to favorable recommendation on you next job.

Are you joking? People lateral to other agencies all the time. It is no problem at all. I'm in the process right now. Agencies often prefer laterals because they come already trained. It in no way leads to a less-than-favorable recommendation.

Those contracts rookies are signed to are often not worth the paper on which they are written. They are signed under duress, which along with other problems contained in them, makes them illegal. Contra Costa County just had to reimburse a bunch of people who lateraled out and were ordered to pay per their contract. The contract was ruled invalid.

MountainMan, you've got four or five years at least to research departments. Don't make up your mind yet about where you want to work.

[mountainman]

Mountainman because "Matt" was taken, and because I barely shave anymore and that's what my friends call me hehe .

Anyway, thanks for your responses! About what field to enter...that's a toughie, considering I don't know what they all are, but I just saw on the FBI employment site that there's a "special agent" position in the FBI. This may sound stupid, but is that the type of guys you see on TV? That's what I think I'd want to do, doing something where I'm actually on my feet and in action, maybe dealing with counter-terrorism, drug trafficking, anything "exciting". Personally though, I wouldn't want a desk job or something where I just do research and such, I'd need to do something exciting.

I was just at www.cia.gov and I couldn't find any type of "special agent" (that sounds so lame, but understand that I don't know any better way to put it!) position, is there one? Maybe what I'm looking for is "Operations Officer" in "Clandestine Positions" (http://www.cia.gov/cia/employment/jobpostings/overseas.htm)
I really don't know what I'm talking about here, so if anybody thinks they understand where I'm coming from, some guidance would be appreciated! . One thing I do know is what I said before, that I'd like to be in the field and in the action, actually doing stuff, if you know what I mean.

Oh, by the way...I've been thinking about taking up Chinese for a while (I'm into Kung Fu, so that's why ). Might that help my chances for employment out if I were fluent in the Chinese language, most likely Mandarin?

Thanks!

-Matt

[Joseph]

Accounting or a Buisness Degree is your best best for the FBI or CIA or a degree in Physc. Good Luck.

[207]

Originally posted by ateamer:


Are you joking? People lateral to other agencies all the time. It is no problem at all. I'm in the process right now. Agencies often prefer laterals because they come already trained. It in no way leads to a less-than-favorable recommendation.

It's no joke in this area. To make a lateral move here now POST requires the officer to meet & pass the Cooper's standards for physical fitness, along with the full background, Polygraph, Psychological, and be up to date on all required certifications. They also pushed the FTO up to 300 hours.
Our dept just hired an officer who resigned from another dept. POST will not recognize his cert card because he resigned. So, he has to go through 18 weeks of academy and then the 300 hrs of FTO.
When I made my lateral transfer in '97 it was easy..

They're even trying to implement a yearly Cooper's standards test for ALL officers in the State. I don't think it will fly because of the costs. To the best of my knowledge only one dept in the State is doing that on their own but, they built a facility for them to work out in and allow them the time to do same.

[Frank Booth]

.

[Don]

Originally posted by mountainman:
doing something where I'm actually on my feet and in action, maybe dealing with counter-terrorism, drug trafficking, anything "exciting". Personally though, I wouldn't want a desk job or something where I just do research and such, I'd need to do something exciting.

-Matt

Matt if you are looking for the old "adrenalin rush", I would forget about the FBI. If you really want the action go to a local agency.

[Don]

Frank Booth please check your PM.

[ateamer]

Originally posted by 207:


To make a lateral move here now POST requires the officer to meet & pass the Cooper's standards for physical fitness, along with the full background, Polygraph, Psychological, and be up to date on all required certifications. They also pushed the FTO up to 300 hours.

Same here, but it's no big deal. A lot of departments out here waive the written and physical agility for laterals. If you are doing the job now, you are obviously intellectually and physically qualified. CA POST also mandates a minimum of 10 weeks of FTO, even for laterals, no matter how experienced. POST needs to stop micromanaging departments. I hear they are even coming up with POST requirements for SWAT teams. I guess Sacramento thinks that the chiefs and team leaders are not qualified to make decisions anymore.

As far as instituting ongoing physical fitness standards for currently serving officers, not sure they can do that. It might be able to apply to new hires, but it is still stupid for it to be a state standard. Leave it up to the individual department. What are they gonna do, fire a guy because he can't run a mile in x-number of minutes, no matter how good an officer he is?

[207]

CT POST won't waive anything. Maybe this is their way of curbing the moving around.
If fact the dept I used to work for, DMV, no longer sends people through the academy because everybody was leaving after graduating. The new hires are non-LEO in a different job class and a less pay for the same job. They should've looked at how they treat employees first to find out why people left.

The other problem is politics. There is a legislator in a major city that hates cops. This is the same person who started the "profile report" issue that everyone has to fill out after a stop. He wants recert training standards on everything from diversity training to this yearly physical fitness/exam issue. Frankly he's using his position to be a PITA.
He's also ****ed off because they eliminated one of his jobs, it appears he was "double dipping".
And I'm sure he will be cranking the screws tighter now that his son was recently arrested for operating an unregistered, uninsured, and I believe misuse of plates, on a motorcycle for which he did not have a license to operate. From what I was told its already into the "They only stopped me because I'm [fill in the blank]" stage.