TexasCHLforum.com

nitrogen wrote:What does it take to get into a police adacemy under your own dime, exactly?

You need to check where your local regional academy is. Each one will have a slightly different admission procedure. The basic rules for who can go are set in the TCLEOSE rules, viewable on line here:
http://info.sos.state.tx.us/pls/pub/rea ... =215&rl=15

It is really pretty simple to qualify. Basically if you can get a CHL you are 90% of the way there. The criminal history part is no class A or higher, ever and no class B in the past ten years. You must be 21. There is a requirement for a high school diploma, or if you have a GED then you also need 12 college credit hours.

Most of the regional academies will take care of the background check for you when you apply, though some will require you to go to a local PD for it. Then you enroll in the class, just like almost any college or vocational class. Pay the tuition and buy the required supplies, and go to school.

Tuition is generally around $1200 right now for the full course. If you go full time, you can expect to spend about 4 months in school. There is a requirement from TCLEOSE for what is taught and the minimum number of hours is around 680 right now. A lot of the academies still offer it as a part time three phase program. In this case, you either go in the evenings or on weekends and spend about a year in training.

Some of the schools will require you to buy a uniform for attending. This is not too bad since the uniform is usually Dickies style work pants and shirt or a polo shirt with the school name. Some do not require uniforms at all but that is getting rarer. Some will require you to purchase weapons and leather gear, some will have that to loan. The difference is that some recognize that different departments require different styles of leather gear or different weapons and some even issue both. Some schools require you to buy it and specify whatever is predominant in their area, figuring you will need it as a cop anyway.

If you complete the academy, you will get a certificate to go take the TCLEOSE licensing exam. If you pass that, you are eligible to be hired by someone and become a licensed peace officer. The trick many people forget is that you are not a cop or licensed just because you passed the test. Your actual license is not issued until the first department commissions you.

If you want to go to the academy part time, you can very easily find a local department that will pick up your commission as a reserve. In most cases, you will have to work between 16 and 32 hours per month for free for that department, but you then are a peace officer with full peace officer authority.

As I posted earlier, if you want to work as a paid cop, there are always departments that come to the schools recruiting. Most of the schools will have a bulletin board full of recruiting information for departments all over the state. I get those notices all the time at our academy too, but i generally throw them away. Our academy is proprietary just for our employees, so we don't want to lose them now that they are trained.

Leaving aside the issue of whether or not you should become an LEO or something else, let me explain a little about police work to you.

There are many different levels of police work. There are very small towns, medium size cities, large cities, specialized agencies like the Park or Airport police, school district police, county sheriff's departments, state police (and that is a lot more than just DPS) and all of the federal stuff.

Each and every department sets their own rules on what is required to be a police officer and how far you can go, within certain minimums. Federal agencies do not need to meet the state required minimums, but most of them are higher requirements anyway. Almost all of the federal agencies require a bachelor's degree to get into.

The state of Texas says you need a clear criminal record (no class A or higher at all, no class B in the past 10 years), a physical exam to make sure you can do the job, a psychological exam, and either a high school diploma or a GED with 12 credit hours of college.

There are departments that require a bull to get on (mine is one if you are not already certified), ones that require varying amounts of college (anywhere from 15 to 90 credits), and some that require none. As a general rule, small towns have lower pay and lower hiring requirements as a general rule.

But, police work is not like military work or like what you see on TV, even with Cops and SWAT shows. It does require, as a job function, that you be able to deal with people and have some common sense and intelligence. There is a lot of writing in the job, so you better be able to write at least as well as a HS paper (good grammar and spelling).

There is some danger in police work, though I really do not believe it is a bad as most people think. They normally here about the rare cases where someone got hurt and never hear about the thousands of officer who worked their shift and the closest they came to danger was dying of boredom. Most officers go their whole career and never get into a shooting at all. More get hurt in fistfights, but it is still only a small percentage. OF course, if you do get in danger, it happens suddenly and is very dangerous.

If you are really interested in a police job, there are a few things you should consider. Check with your local department if they have a ride along program where you, as a normal citizen, can ride a shift with an officer. This will show you what a normal shift is like, especially if you do a weekday instead of a weekend. It will also get you to where you can talk to an officer about the choice. This is my first recommendation to help you decide if it is what you want.

If you do want a police job, there are two basic ways to go. You can apply to one of the major departments that has their own academy. That way you get academy training, and get paid for it.

Or you can go to a regional academy for your training. This means you pay for your own training and then look for a job after you get certified. There are always several police departments that are too small to pay for an academy for their cadets that will recruit in the regional academies for people like this.

But either way, if you decide to become a cop, you will need to be a very good student for the next six months or so. Academy training is not very easy usually, and counts for college credit in most cases. Many use real college professors to help teach the classes, if that gives you an idea what to expect in the academy.