Any Law Enforcement?

[Doug Taylor]

Szluka with the ride-a-long! All I think of is that scene from "Terminator: Two" when the T-2000 says, 'Have you seen this boy?'

[FlyChicaga]

LOL!

Honestly, if I wasn't flying, law enforcement would be my first stop for employment. I have this serious burning desire to work for a police department, but I know it would be a huge mistake to stop flying for a few years to deal on the streets. I hope I don't end up regretting it.

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
juskl,

Is it possible to do "ride alongs" in the aviation units at any police departments? I've been interested in law enforcement aviation for a while. I've done countless ride alongs in a squad, but none in the air... seems like it would be a great way to see what goes on.

[/ QUOTE ]

Would probably be a no for liability, if anything. But I could be wrong.

[C150J]

F.C. - IL has plenty of Departments that recruit reserves. Full authority, just volunteers... you might want to check it out. I know some pilots for the majors that do this...

J.

[FlyChicaga]

I'll have to check into that.

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
I'll have to check into that.

[/ QUOTE ]

Many AZ agencies do the same with "reserve" officers as fully POST-certified officers.

Not that you'd care about AZ police agency policies with you being in Chicago, Matt.

[FlyChicaga]

I actually looked online last night and found one of the suburbs right near me hires part-time officers. Actually two suburbs do. The only problem is that the training cycle is over 2 years (1 year classroom twice a week, 1 year OJT). Which is just fine and dandy now with my base being Chicago, but should something happen that would require me to move, then that would mess things up. Hmm...

I also just found out that the department I used to work at is looking for officers. I saw it and immediately clicked on the application link, then thought to myself "what the hell am I doing???"

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
...

I also just found out that the department I used to work at is looking for officers. I saw it and immediately clicked on the application link, then thought to myself "what the hell am I doing???"

[/ QUOTE ]

A "Pavlov's Dogs" reaction?

[juskl]

Sorry for the delays on this, I have been a bit busy at work. You can only do ride-a-longs with the air units if you are an employee of that or at least another department and it has to be approved by the unit supervisors. And it is deffinately do to the liability issue.

Cop work is good. If you can do both, it would be ideal (at least for me). I (along with a cast of others from our department) are in the process of starting a fixed-wing unit now. We have a two year timeline on this. And there is a ton of work to do. A good site to look at is www.alea.org (it is the aviation law enforcement association web site). Good info on law enforcement aviation info.

As with all things law enforcement (especially the bigger agencies) you will have to compete with all the other officers that want to test for that position. With the Aviation Unit being up there with Tactical in appeal. Everyone wants to do it. Not that it is impossible, but it may take about 5-7 years to get on the unit as an observer, longer for a pilot position.

Good luck.

[phrog_driver]

It seems that most departments only let you apply for their aviation units once you've served for a while. Any leads on those that let rated pilots apply to go directly to aviation, especially if they're fairly high-time?

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
It seems that most departments only let you apply for their aviation units once you've served for a while. Any leads on those that let rated pilots apply to go directly to aviation, especially if they're fairly high-time?

[/ QUOTE ]

You're right. Especially for liability reasons, many departments don't have civilian pilots with an officer observer like the old days.
They want all persons involved in any potential enforcement action to be fully POST (Police Officer Standards and Training) or equivelent certified for the particular state. Places like Phoenix PD, for example, you can be on the force for quite a while before an opening in the aviation unit comes up.

[juskl]

The average Officer getting into Phoenix's air unit has about ten plus years on the department. It then takes between two to three years to complete all the training and dues paying as an observer before getting kicked loose PIC in there helicopters. The average pilot there has over 18 years on the department. The senior guys are pushing 25-30 years on the department. Ironically, the situation is the same for the tactical unit.....go figure.

[phrog_driver]

So it really doesn't help to have a couple thousand helo hours, since you get thrown in with the rest of the force anyway? I see the idea, but it seems to me they could attract a lot more experienced pilots if they could say, "Complete a 2-3 year probationary period as a beat cop, then you can be in the aviation unit."

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
So it really doesn't help to have a couple thousand helo hours, since you get thrown in with the rest of the force anyway? I see the idea, but it seems to me they could attract a lot more experienced pilots if they could say, "Complete a 2-3 year probationary period as a beat cop, then you can be in the aviation unit."

[/ QUOTE ]

As far as I know on the federal side, US Customs (ICE, or whatever the hell it is today) is the only agency that hires pilots to fly first, in addition to being a customs agent. Border Patrol (or whatever it is these days), you need to be a ground agent for a while.

AZ-wise, DPS hires pilots, they even have a separate paygrade for them, though all pilots are POST-officers as well.

[phrog_driver]

I did look into ICE before I signed my life away for another 6 years in the Corps. FBI and DEA air units also require about 3 years general experience before you're eligible. Unfortunately all the federal agencies have age limits of 37 at entry, which I'll be past by the time I have to worry about it. Just trying to feel out places I can keep flying helos a few years down the road. EMS, tours, and petroleum are all okay, but don't really float my boat.

[juskl]

Yeah, DPS hires Pilots first and then sends them to the academy and Post Academy. All the helo guys are Officers, but they are starting to hire civilian fixed guys. They want 500 PIC multi/Comm/Inst. You start flying in King Airs right away.

Phoenix wants Officers first and then they train. They say that they have more success that way. They no longer train in the 269's. They start out there helicopter basic training in the Notar's........Phx says that it cuts a few months off of their training.

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, DPS hires Pilots first and then sends them to the academy and Post Academy. All the helo guys are Officers, but they are starting to hire civilian fixed guys. They want 500 PIC multi/Comm/Inst. You start flying in King Airs right away.

.

[/ QUOTE ]

Fixed wing has retention problems at DPS due to no one liking the jackass LT in charge of the fixed-wing aviation side.

[ifrcfi]

From graveyard to ASA.
It has been a while since this thread has been active so I thought I would add my two cents. This is my first post after being a jetcareers lurker for 4 or 5 years. Has jetcareers been around that long? After working the graveyard shift for four years, I took the aviation plunge. In Oct. of 2003 I left law enforcement and in just a couple of weeks I will start class at ASA. While law enforcement was a ton of fun, flying and instructing has been awesome. I started my training at delta connection academy and finished up and instructed at Falcon Aviation Academy. Needless to say the entire process is a large financial burden. I will not be making 1/3 of the money I was making as a sheriff's deputy for many, many years. If you are married I strongly suggest having a long discussion with your spouse about a career change. Anyways, the entire process is a lot of work and dedication is very key. I thoroughly enjoyed my training at Falcon Aviation Academy and having the opportunity to fly and teach in new aircraft was a huge plus. They treat there students and intstructors top notch. While I normally agree with and enjoy articles written by Wayne Phillips, you don't need to buy type ratings or pay for training in order to get to an airline job in under two years. I firmly believe that during airline interviews you will be respected more if you earned your flight time, versus paying for it. Whatever or wherever you chose to do your training please don't pay for your training it only hurts everyone and the entire industry. Beyond that just to add to the last couple of posts I spoke with a recruiter from Customs last month and it sounds like they are having a hiring freeze until 2006, due to integrating border patrol pilots and customs pilots together under homeland security. For those of you howling at the moon and dreaming about flying I wish you the best of luck. One more thing, a wise man in aviation once wrote about the importance of net working. I can't tell you how much that has helped my career and there are tons of pilots that I should thank. Many on jetcareers and they didn't even know it. So to finish up it is possible to go from working the road to an airline pilot in 21 mos.

[VicMackey]

It's great to read the last post. I have been an officer for eight years now and am wanting to get out. It's not the worst job you could have, and there are some things I will miss about it, but in the long run it's not what I want to do anymore. And every year it seems like the law makers handcuff us more and more so that we can't handcuff the people who really need it. That being said, if law enforcement is what you really want you have to have a passion for it, or it will eat you up. Education wise it's probably almost too easy to get into, but once your in, that's when the real training begins. Anyway it makes me feel good to see other former officer's successfully following their dreams. I have just recently got up the courage to begin to look into following mine. I have no doubt in my mind that I can do it. Just finding the money and route to getting it done is the first step. I am really glad to have all of the posts on JC to help inform me. I like to read this stuff, because I don't trust all of the glamour that is put on the flight school web sights.

[Officer448]

I can relate to you guys that work the beat. Been in law enforcement for 6 years. And yeah, there are many aspects that I will miss, but many more that I won't.

[Kristie]

a lurker for 4 to 5 YEARS? are you kidding???? granted, JC's been operating longer than that but we've never had a lurker actually come out and admit to being a "long-long-time lurker"...geez, at least thank them by coming out to NetworkJC and introducing yourself then! you should know everyone that's there...hahaha