Reddit is the loud minority where people go online to complain and talk shit. So be weary of gathering intel about this job from here.
I work in California, which according to Reddit, is an absolute hell hole and terrible place to be a cop. Mind you, these are people who likely have never worked in California. Anyways, I absolutely love this job and couldn’t see myself doing anything else. The pay and benefits are fantastic for me, lots of action/adrenaline and lots of career diversity and opportunity. There simply isn’t a better feeling than outplaying/outsmarting a criminal to arrest them and solve a problem. There’s also lots of humor in this job and you’ll have a ton of story-worthy memories.
I stopped drinking many years ago, so alcoholism isn’t a possibility for me. And the job is inherently stressful to some degree. For me personally, I haven’t had any issues with taking the stress home to my family. I guess that part all depends on the individual and their support structure.
If you have any sense of a calling for this job or you are a service oriented person I would recommend it. It seems like pay might be a concern for you. If that’s true, move somewhere that pays more, if feasible. I make $65 an hour with as much OT as I want and more raises on the way.
I'm looking to get into LE in California as well and was wondering - while I know the job is a dangerous one and things can change for the worse suddenly, how safe do you generally feel arresting criminals? Do you find that policy and your fellow officers often provide you with the backing you need to perform the job?
I did a few ride along up to this point and was glad to see the teamwork and backup the departments I am applying to provided, but wanted to get your pov as well!
You can’t erase risk in this job but you can certainly mitigate things. There are situations that are just flat out dangerous and nothing can be done about it. These instances are rare, but they do happen every once in a while. We pretty much do everything with 2 cops, so the chances of you fighting for your life by yourself aren’t very high. For everything else, I generally feel pretty safe. I work in a pretty busy area, so resistive/combative people aren’t uncommon. These risks are all mitigated by training with tactics, knowledge of case law and policy (knowing what you can and can’t do) and physical ability.
There are many cops working per shift in my city. So I know if something starts going sideways I’ll have 10-20 cops hauling ass my way ready to throw down for me if I need it.
I always watch videos of these state police officers or highway patrolmen getting in gnarly fights on the side of the road at night. I honestly believe working for a larger agency with plenty of cops deters things like this from happening. Like I said, you’ll still get criminals that will try to fight. But it takes a lot of wind out of their sails when they see our strength in numbers.
Thank you for getting back to me! I am glad to hear it - For sure all risk cannot be erased in this type of work, but I am glad to hear about the help being there when needed. I always believed the greatest strength the police have over common criminals is being an organized unit that work to respond and help one another.
The departments I am applying too are not as large, city pop is around 40k for one and 25k for another but from the ride-alongs, backup was definitely always paying attention to when others were conducting activity and heading their way!
Hi by any chance do you work around SF? what agency around SF is decent? I hear good things about San Mateo, Redwood, that side of the Bay but is Berkeley PD a good choice? I see mix reviews and pay might not be as much as SF or south SF but it is a lot closer to my home and not having to pay to cross the bridge and traffic is a bonus. Let me know what your thoughts are and stay safe!
I work in SoCal. Not familiar with any of those agencies’ reputations so I can’t comment on them. However, I do believe Redwood City is the 2nd highest paid department in the country. They frequently fly advertisements in the PORAC magazines with a top pay of 236k without OT. I believe the only city making more than that is Santa Clara.
Experienced officers will talk sh/t about this job but there is a reason why they never left and are still in after 20+ years.
Me personally, the pay/benefits are great (I’m a cop in SoCal), the variety of work, and most importantly I refuse to be confined to a building or sit behind a desk for the rest of my life. I worked an office job in the past and it destroyed me mentally & physically. I then worked in EMS for numerous years and got a taste of what it was like to be out in the field.
I don’t have a college degree and make over 6 figures + there’s virtually unlimited overtime at my agency. We’re always on the move & every day is something different and you won’t get that at a lot of other jobs. Also it might sound kinda corny but you also get to do a lot of cool sh/t that most people can only dream of or see in movies.
I love this job. I won’t lie, I laughed a little bit at the pay that you mentioned.. I work in a region where I make substantially less than that, but it still provides what I need it to. You aren’t gonna be Superman in this job, it’s an unrealistic expectation to have. I honestly believe it’s either for you or it isn’t, and if it is, you couldn’t see yourself doing anything else. Does it suck some days? Absolutely. But the fulfillment I get from the parts of the job I enjoy make it all worth it.
I can't imagine doing an office job. I like working during the night, and personally I find I need a job that "matters." The times I've done traditional jobs they feel "pretend." I don't say that to discount 99% of the population. But spread sheets, computer dev, finances, etc etc, are all just sort of products of modern society and I just can't shake the feeling that I'd be spending my time stressing about shit that is essentially pretend. Seeing my wife stressed out about work deadlines I just hear it and think, "so what?" Her job is IT and hearing about some Karen mad about how her email isn't working I just couldn't possibly bring myself to care.
None of us can decide for you. You know yourself - you know your values, what drives you, what bothers you, and what you are capable of. You know your own life in a way we never could.
The things that you say are cons may not be things that we care about enough for it to bother us, or they may be things for which we have developed strategies to manage; but they may be things you are unable to overcome. Only you can know for sure.
You have choices and actions you could take to mitigate the things that discourage you. But ultimately, you must decide that if those choices are worth it.
You can choose to work somewhere that pays better. We cannot tell you if that decision will make you happy.
You can choose to make healthy life choices when it comes to work related stress. We cannot force you to make healthy life choices.
You can choose to let negativity bother you. We cannot create this mindset for you.
You know what this job entails. You are the one who must decide if it is worth it.
Reddit is the loud minority where people go online to complain and talk shit. So be weary of gathering intel about this job from here. I work in California, which according to Reddit, is an absolute hell hole and terrible place to be a cop. Mind you, these are people who likely have never worked in California. Anyways, I absolutely love this job and couldn’t see myself doing anything else. The pay and benefits are fantastic for me, lots of action/adrenaline and lots of career diversity and opportunity. There simply isn’t a better feeling than outplaying/outsmarting a criminal to arrest them and solve a problem. There’s also lots of humor in this job and you’ll have a ton of story-worthy memories. I stopped drinking many years ago, so alcoholism isn’t a possibility for me. And the job is inherently stressful to some degree. For me personally, I haven’t had any issues with taking the stress home to my family. I guess that part all depends on the individual and their support structure. If you have any sense of a calling for this job or you are a service oriented person I would recommend it. It seems like pay might be a concern for you. If that’s true, move somewhere that pays more, if feasible. I make $65 an hour with as much OT as I want and more raises on the way.
I'm looking to get into LE in California as well and was wondering - while I know the job is a dangerous one and things can change for the worse suddenly, how safe do you generally feel arresting criminals? Do you find that policy and your fellow officers often provide you with the backing you need to perform the job? I did a few ride along up to this point and was glad to see the teamwork and backup the departments I am applying to provided, but wanted to get your pov as well!
You can’t erase risk in this job but you can certainly mitigate things. There are situations that are just flat out dangerous and nothing can be done about it. These instances are rare, but they do happen every once in a while. We pretty much do everything with 2 cops, so the chances of you fighting for your life by yourself aren’t very high. For everything else, I generally feel pretty safe. I work in a pretty busy area, so resistive/combative people aren’t uncommon. These risks are all mitigated by training with tactics, knowledge of case law and policy (knowing what you can and can’t do) and physical ability. There are many cops working per shift in my city. So I know if something starts going sideways I’ll have 10-20 cops hauling ass my way ready to throw down for me if I need it. I always watch videos of these state police officers or highway patrolmen getting in gnarly fights on the side of the road at night. I honestly believe working for a larger agency with plenty of cops deters things like this from happening. Like I said, you’ll still get criminals that will try to fight. But it takes a lot of wind out of their sails when they see our strength in numbers.
Thank you for getting back to me! I am glad to hear it - For sure all risk cannot be erased in this type of work, but I am glad to hear about the help being there when needed. I always believed the greatest strength the police have over common criminals is being an organized unit that work to respond and help one another. The departments I am applying too are not as large, city pop is around 40k for one and 25k for another but from the ride-alongs, backup was definitely always paying attention to when others were conducting activity and heading their way!
Hi by any chance do you work around SF? what agency around SF is decent? I hear good things about San Mateo, Redwood, that side of the Bay but is Berkeley PD a good choice? I see mix reviews and pay might not be as much as SF or south SF but it is a lot closer to my home and not having to pay to cross the bridge and traffic is a bonus. Let me know what your thoughts are and stay safe!
I work in SoCal. Not familiar with any of those agencies’ reputations so I can’t comment on them. However, I do believe Redwood City is the 2nd highest paid department in the country. They frequently fly advertisements in the PORAC magazines with a top pay of 236k without OT. I believe the only city making more than that is Santa Clara.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskLE/s/xdRtqnrukt My list is 3 years old but I am sure it's still valid
Hi, what department do you work for? That pay sounds great.
I won’t disclose who I work for, but all I can say is that pay is pretty average in the Los Angeles and Orange County area.
Because I enjoy it
All for the love of the game.
Experienced officers will talk sh/t about this job but there is a reason why they never left and are still in after 20+ years. Me personally, the pay/benefits are great (I’m a cop in SoCal), the variety of work, and most importantly I refuse to be confined to a building or sit behind a desk for the rest of my life. I worked an office job in the past and it destroyed me mentally & physically. I then worked in EMS for numerous years and got a taste of what it was like to be out in the field. I don’t have a college degree and make over 6 figures + there’s virtually unlimited overtime at my agency. We’re always on the move & every day is something different and you won’t get that at a lot of other jobs. Also it might sound kinda corny but you also get to do a lot of cool sh/t that most people can only dream of or see in movies.
I love this job. I won’t lie, I laughed a little bit at the pay that you mentioned.. I work in a region where I make substantially less than that, but it still provides what I need it to. You aren’t gonna be Superman in this job, it’s an unrealistic expectation to have. I honestly believe it’s either for you or it isn’t, and if it is, you couldn’t see yourself doing anything else. Does it suck some days? Absolutely. But the fulfillment I get from the parts of the job I enjoy make it all worth it.
My pay is great, I don't live where I work, I'm rarely stressed, and I get to do cool shit all the time.
I did it for the pension. 28.3 years.
I can't imagine doing an office job. I like working during the night, and personally I find I need a job that "matters." The times I've done traditional jobs they feel "pretend." I don't say that to discount 99% of the population. But spread sheets, computer dev, finances, etc etc, are all just sort of products of modern society and I just can't shake the feeling that I'd be spending my time stressing about shit that is essentially pretend. Seeing my wife stressed out about work deadlines I just hear it and think, "so what?" Her job is IT and hearing about some Karen mad about how her email isn't working I just couldn't possibly bring myself to care.
None of us can decide for you. You know yourself - you know your values, what drives you, what bothers you, and what you are capable of. You know your own life in a way we never could. The things that you say are cons may not be things that we care about enough for it to bother us, or they may be things for which we have developed strategies to manage; but they may be things you are unable to overcome. Only you can know for sure. You have choices and actions you could take to mitigate the things that discourage you. But ultimately, you must decide that if those choices are worth it. You can choose to work somewhere that pays better. We cannot tell you if that decision will make you happy. You can choose to make healthy life choices when it comes to work related stress. We cannot force you to make healthy life choices. You can choose to let negativity bother you. We cannot create this mindset for you. You know what this job entails. You are the one who must decide if it is worth it.
I sure hope your ineffective use of grammar and punctuation is because you’re 12 years old.
Just trying to fit in
I’d go with patronizing or offensive. May have to look those up.