Cop Career Questions-NJ

Im sure some of you guys are police officers, or know a good friend who is a police officer.

I tried googling some good sites with info on this but havent come across anything with "excellent" info.

Im curently 20 years old, and am interested in becoming a police officer. I live in New Jersey, I have a clean background, no points on record, no arrests, etc.

How hard is it to become a cop?
What are steps I need to take to become one, where do i start?
Does anyone know the age requirements and any other requirements for NJ?

I do landscaping right now, and a few of our customers are cops, and my boss is good friends with some cops(he lives in a development with 4cops).
I might try to talk to them one day when the chance comes.

I commonly see cops in wawa etc, would it be wise to talk to them about become a police officer?

 

No shortage of fist pumping and investigating stolen property.

 

Are you an a hole?

If so, you're likely qualified.

-signed a guy who got pulled over in jersey a lot

 

Maybe you should have slowed down....a lot

 

So you come on a racing forum to ask?

My advice would be as follows:
- Look out for Civil Service entry exam study groups/seminars/classes and sign up for one. I cant stress this enough cuz if you don't score real high you wont have a chance with all the veterans going straight up to the top of the lists.
- Unless you have a 'hook' don't even bother with towns that give a Chief's test, more times than not, they know who they want before it even gets beyond the written exam.
- Definitely doesnt hurt to go to night school for Criminal Justice/Entry to LE/etc type courses and work on getting a degree. A LOT of reputable agencies are now making that a minimum requirement. You're young so it's not like you're running out of time.
- Lastly, I'd HIGHLY recommend giving NY/NJ Port Authority a good hard look cuz they make boocoo $$$ and their retirement plan is outstanding as of yet. Also be aware that BOTH sides of the political aisle seem to be coming at this profession, along with Firefighters and teachers in an effort to cut budgets so don't expect any decent raises to happen for at least the next 10 yrs. If anything, it'll probably be the opposite in regards to their current benefit packages.

Oh and one last thing, LE work aint a bowl of cherries, most times, it's associated with crappy pay, hrs and if you're not getting shit on by some scumbag, more than likely, it's coming from one of your coworkers.......this line of work tends to breed and sometimes encourage two faced scumbag POS's. Other than that tho, helping people in various ways can be rewarding. Plus, some chics loooove uniforms.

 

Get a degree and go Federal. More money, better benefits. The hot ticket right now is tech agents.

 

im in the same boat as you. im 23, graduated college last year with a bio degree, and i work in a factory as a machine operator. so far this year i have applied to PA, MD, and DE state troopers as well as Prince George County, MD and Baltimore City, PD's.

what i have done is just find out what departments are hiring and browse the website. most have a overview of the hiring process. so far i have tested at PG, and Baltimore. testing for the DE state troopers in about 3 weeks.

good luck.

 

im not trying to disagree with you becuase you might know more then me, but all the cops i know said having a degree in criminal justice is pretty worthless if you want to be a cop. a degree in general is good, but it doesnt necessarily have to be a CJ degree

 

Maybe you might want to try the NJ State Police Website

http://www.njsp.org/recruit/salary.html

Per the website, the starting salary is $58,748 and top pay for Trooper I (whatever that is) is $97,188. I'm undecided if that is alot or a little to drive up and down the NJ Turnpike and deal with assholes (and probably become an asshole) all day and maybe get shot.

The Philadelphia Police website has similar information. The pay doesn't compare. If you are going to be a cop in NJ, why not go for the gusto and be a statey.

 

PG County? Kinda rough there... Vest up 2X!!

 

not accepting apps at this time

 

First, I am not a cop. So what I am telling you is from experience of friends.

I am told that if you take CJ classes in community college, then get into the Police Academy, you can probably get a dead-end cop job in a small local PD. Likely to be lots of politics and several asshole co-workers who you will not want to be associated with. If you are exceptional at your job, behave yourself, (stay off idiot forums like this one,) then you could eventually advance to a position with some job security and decent salary. Unfortunately, by that time you will be stuck with a boatload of administrative stuff and not a lot of the kind of stuff you want to be a cop for. You could even work long enough to get some stripes and shit, and the opportunity to un-jam the department copiers on a regular basis.

OTOH, if you join the military and take the steps to become an MP, you have a pretty decent choice of career opportunities ahead of you in State and Federal LEO positions. Some of those could be pretty rewarding.

The good part of either path is that one day you can go to the Jersey Shore and stick your truncheon up Snooki's ass. Go for it.

 

These are all good traits and generally prerequisites.

It can be difficult, and requires both determination and dedication. Forget the drama/action nonsense you see on television and in the movies, but know that it can be an excellent career if you're expectations are realistic. I'll put it this way:

(1) Are you looking for a good job with benefits that will open your eyes to some very unique and interesting experiences?
(2) Do you care enough about people and community to want to work towards ensuring things are handled correctly on a continual basis?
(3) Do you accept that a majority of the job will involve waiting, paperwork, training, or waiting for training to fill out paperwork?
(4) Do you accept that you'll have very specific protocols to follow, and that you can be held criminally and/or civilly liable if you do not?
(5) Do you understand that your first duty is to provide service to persons needing assistance, regardless of their education, social status, income or your opinion of them and their situation?

This isn't a job for passing the buck, looking the other way or prejudging folks; you need to be more tempered and patient with human nature then you could ever imagine.

Generally there are three routes; a civil service exam with waiting list, direct hiring by the agency, or putting yourself through the academy as an 'alternate route' candidate. If you're looking to market yourself and have the necessary drive, I'd suggest the Alternate Route program to any viable candidate as departments look favorably upon recruits who have the determination to put themselves through the program. Note though that Alternate Route programs generally require the candidates have accumulated 60 college credits prior to admission, though I have seen exceptions to this.

The general cutoff for hiring and to enter the academy is 35 years of age, but there are exceptions to this as well.

Don't be timid; talk to these folks about the profession and their experiences, and get a feel as to whether you think it would be right for you.

Now, I'm going to throw in a matter-of-fact disclaimer about hiring in NJ:

Right now is a very difficult time to be hired as a police officer here; many departments are laying off due to a state imposed 2% spending cap on budgets. There are literally hundreds of very qualified/quality personnel looking for jobs in the field as we speak, and that number will likely grow much higher over the next twelve months. I know both veteran officers and PTC certified Alternate Route candidates that have graduated the academy recently who don't have jobs.

Your results may vary. Good luck, and take the salty replies you'll probably read in this thread as what they are.

 

What about the free donuts?

 

That's a trade secret I'm not permitted to divulge.






Only eat

 

Power rings dang it!!! They are no longer in style anyways... It's bagels and latte' s now!!

 

OK, I'm going to divulge one of SuburbanRancher's closest-held secrets: He doesn't like donuts. Every time I offer him a donut, or suggest stopping for donuts, he says no.Whatup widdat?

 

2.) Anything you say can and will be used against you on the WERA bbs.

 

Do some ride-alongs with some local departments to see what it's really like. An officer does a lot of paperwork. As a road officer ur job is to cya.

Most of the people you will come in contact with are idiots, you will be shocked at how stupid people are.

Your hours suck unless you find a job that has some great shifts.....do ur research.

Usually larger departments allow you to move around to specialized units quicker than smaller ones.

Serious questions you have to ask yourself:
-can u tell mom and dad that their baby/child or love one is dead?
-can u pull the trigger and live with it?
-some of your arrests will have HIV, hep-c and all that cool stuff. You will have to go hands on with these people.

If you do apply to a department make a copy of all your info. They will ask you a lot of questions. You have to tell them what other department you have applied with. Your info better be the same....they will check.

Sometimes you do get a real shit bag off the street and it makes the job worth it. Don't forget a lot of people won't like you. If you want people to love you be a firefighter, lol.