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Agreed, though lousy pay can turn in to good pay once you make detective. But I think that requires a bachelors degree.
For me it would be dealing with death and dismemberment. A friend of ours husband was a cop in Chicago. His second day on the force he had to go into an apartment where a man had died several days earlier in the bathtub and the neighbors were complaining about the smell. The body had ruptured of course from the internal gases and the mans cat was feeding on the corpse. Really gross and he almost quit. Crappy way to make a living IMO.
Well, these days, practically all police work requires at least some college hours or the equivalent (military or executive experience). Of course, it is not that across the board but nutshell wise, one of the things out of federal review of policing is the very strong recommendation that a rookie has a bachelor's degree.
Now, on the note of college, one should appreciate, IMHO, they are dealing with a generalist and not a specialist environment. Hence, it may sound great (as I have heard some of the general public insist) to have a CJ degree, but that is, again IMHO, really defeatist. What if the member of the public one is dealing with is not a CJ type. Basically, for the environment one is going to be in, one should be enough of a generalist to find a common ground with whoever they are dealing with.....assuming they speak the same language.
As far as DEATH goes, that depends. Personally, I find it quite fascinating but then again, that's my ability to instantly shift my personalty points to one side or another. In the case of the gory, I switch to "Science Officer".....or "Steve Irwin". To be fascinated, not disgusted by what I see and to gather enough information to come back to my superiors to report so they will know as if they had actually been there.
BUT, as I said before, for whatever one does in this line of work, they are subject to others second guessing them and raking them over the coals for it. Worst that with the Net, they can probably "find" others to agree with them. Do a death investigation (have done at least one in my time) and there is probably a good chance that someone will say you defiled the deceased in the process (let's put aside for this discussion preserving the death site for evidence preservation).
Finally, on second guessing, I don't do it. When I put someone in the field, it is their show. That's the way it is (or should be) in a lot of walks of life, that's the way to have good workers......but when it comes to police work, how effective can you be when people are constantly questioning everything you do?
Let's be honest. America's best and brightest don't become policemen. Our best and brightest have many better options.
So who becomes a policeman?
- those who want a government job with a good pension from which it's hard to get fired
- those who enjoy power over others
- those who have a family history of police work (father uncle etc.)
- those who get out of the military and want something similar
- a few, a very very very few, who want to help their communities
My father told me when I was young that the sort of people who become policemen have more in common with the criminals than they do with the rest of us. Now that I'm old I think that was a pretty fair assessment.
In 2020 I realized that there were too many people like the above for me to keep risking my ass. So I retired early, leaving behind 200+ DV victims who to this day ask my replacement where I went.
Thankfully nothing all that terrible ever happened to me, but man do I regret thinking it was going to be a good thing to serve "my" community.
Who would want to? Let's say you get called by a shopkeeper who reports a repeat violent offender dirtbag passing phony money. Said dirtbag has enough illicit drugs in him to kill three men. Dirtbag resists arrest and and croaks when restrained. "Upstanding" citizens record the event and mob mentality takes over. You are then indicted and convicted of murder to appease the mob that's just itching to burn the town down and a corrupt media demanding "justice". No thank you...
Let's be honest. America's best and brightest don't become policemen. Our best and brightest have many better options.
So who becomes a policeman?
- those who want a government job with a good pension from which it's hard to get fired
- those who enjoy power over others
- those who have a family history of police work (father uncle etc.)
- those who get out of the military and want something similar
- a few, a very very very few, who want to help their communities
My father told me when I was young that the sort of people who become policemen have more in common with the criminals than they do with the rest of us. Now that I'm old I think that was a pretty fair assessment.
What about those who wants to become detectives as an ultimate goal?
What about those who wants to become detectives as an ultimate goal?
They still have to start at the bottom, somewhere, somehow. Even those who pop up as detectives usually have done their footwork sometime, somewhere. As it is said, for special police units, those applying are required to have a minimal time, to learn the profession, at the bast level before they can try........to say nothing about the year's probation.
Oh my goodness. Is this Philly? I can't even imagine people living like this. This should not be happening in our country.
Yes it is. Such a shame, isn't it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CCS414
Agreed, though lousy pay can turn in to good pay once you make detective. But I think that requires a bachelors degree.
For me it would be dealing with death and dismemberment. A friend of ours husband was a cop in Chicago. His second day on the force he had to go into an apartment where a man had died several days earlier in the bathtub and the neighbors were complaining about the smell. The body had ruptured of course from the internal gases and the mans cat was feeding on the corpse. Really gross and he almost quit. Crappy way to make a living IMO.
Yes, it takes a certain person to see that kind of thing on a regular basis.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve-C
Who would want to? Let's say you get called by a shopkeeper who reports a repeat violent offender dirtbag passing phony money. Said dirtbag has enough illicit drugs in him to kill three men. Dirtbag resists arrest and and croaks when restrained. "Upstanding" citizens record the event and mob mentality takes over. You are then indicted and convicted of murder to appease the mob that's just itching to burn the town down and a corrupt media demanding "justice". No thank you...
They still have to start at the bottom, somewhere, somehow. Even those who pop up as detectives usually have done their footwork sometime, somewhere. As it is said, for special police units, those applying are required to have a minimal time, to learn the profession, at the bast level before they can try........to say nothing about the year's probation.
Yeah, one of my classmates from high school, spent like 4 or 5 years in Montgomery County, Maryland working as a Sheriff's Deputy after graduating from college.
His dream was to work for the DEA one day.
He achieved that dream and was assigned to the DEA field office in Los Angeles. Sadly, 16 years ago he got involved in an internal affairs investigation, where they claimed he stole a watch from a house they were raiding.
They never took away his DEA issued handgun and when he was being questioned about the incident in federal offices north of downtown Los Angeles in Glendale, during a break he excused himself to go to the restroom, went into a stall and blew his brains out.
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