Any Law Enforcement?

[C150J]

Hi all,

Has anyone here worked in law enforcement? Just curious, as LE is the biggest contender to flying in terms of my prospective careers.

Thanks!
J.

[PilotGuy37]

I am currently in LE.

[C150J]

Thanks for reaching out - I sent you a PM.

[PilotGuy37]

No problem, sent ya a PM back.

[kostcoguy]

Well, I don't know how old you are, but if your a teenager, you could do the Law Enforcement Explorer program, my best friend's brother does it, he loves it, but the way I see it, it's working without getting payed. You do a lot of crowd control, traffic control stuff <yawn>...feel free to ask about it, I can pass on any questions to my friend's bro.

[C150J]

Thanks Kostcoguy - I'm actually already employed by LE.

J.

[JetA_master]

I actually was going to go into LE but caught that damn aviation bug!!!! I had tons of conections too, my sister's fience is a fort worth cop and my dad has a few retired (real) texas ranger friends that we go hunting with. good stories and good times...

[jonnyb]

I was a police officer for a couple years. Flying is MUCH better,,,,,,,for me anyways.

[PilotGuy37]

I agree 100%!

[phrog_driver]

Anyone one here involved in LE aviation? If so, do you like it, and did you have to spend a lot of time doing regular law enforcement duties before you were picked up as a pilot?

[montanapilot]

[ QUOTE ]
Anyone one here involved in LE aviation? If so, do you like it, and did you have to spend a lot of time doing regular law enforcement duties before you were picked up as a pilot?

[/ QUOTE ]


I think one of citationkid's parents is.

[bap327]

I was in the field for 4 years and finally got the balls to pursue my dream so now I am off to flight school and hope to work my way up the ladder.
Being a cop aint nothing like on t.v. but I had fun and just couldnt see doing it for 30 years.
I always wished that I went after the flight lessons sooner.

[ZUM]

My Pop was a Cop for 25 years in MD. The police deparment where he worked is currently trying to get an aviation helicopter program off the ground. Some lucky guy on the Swat team was apparently selected to go through all of the training to become a helicoptor pilot. How awesome would that be?

[juskl]

Ironically, I am in the process of creating the Aviation Unit for the Police Department that I work at. We are starting with a fixed wing first. Either the C-172 or 182. Probably used. As the City of Glendale, Az is getting the Superbowl in 2008, the city wants the Helicopter program up by then.

I got my Commercial Fixed-wing, back in November. I wasn't planning on flying on the job and was looking at other posibilities (airline stuff). The admin staff at work came to me with some other guys that were working on the program and got me involved. We hope to get that up and going within a two year window. With the Helicopter program soon after. Though for a used 182 we are looking at spending 150,000 just for the plane. A new Helicopter 1.6 million per.

Anyway, that is what I have been doing for a while and hopefully all goes well with it. Plus I can still make my 70 k doing this while only being 9 years from retirement. As apposed to going the flight instructor route for 16 per hour. If you have never done a ride along with an air unit, do it...... You will become hooked. Flying over the city at 500 ft while following a pursuit or looking for the bad guy, is awesome.

[aloft]

That you, Justin? What happened to the NYANG plans?

[C150J]

Heyya!

I'm still in contention for the NY-ANG, but I'm not banking on it (4 slots, three of which are alternates!). I have several options right now (some in aviation, some in city and federal law enforcement), and I must say that law enforcement is right up there with flying right now. Just trying to get some more perspective on the field.

Thanks for checkin' in!
J.

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
Ironically, I am in the process of creating the Aviation Unit for the Police Department that I work at. We are starting with a fixed wing first. Either the C-172 or 182. Probably used. As the City of Glendale, Az is getting the Superbowl in 2008, the city wants the Helicopter program up by then.

I got my Commercial Fixed-wing, back in November. I wasn't planning on flying on the job and was looking at other posibilities (airline stuff). The admin staff at work came to me with some other guys that were working on the program and got me involved. We hope to get that up and going within a two year window. With the Helicopter program soon after. Though for a used 182 we are looking at spending 150,000 just for the plane. A new Helicopter 1.6 million per.

Anyway, that is what I have been doing for a while and hopefully all goes well with it. Plus I can still make my 70 k doing this while only being 9 years from retirement. As apposed to going the flight instructor route for 16 per hour. If you have never done a ride along with an air unit, do it...... You will become hooked. Flying over the city at 500 ft while following a pursuit or looking for the bad guy, is awesome.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought the metro PHX cities (except Mesa) just called upon Phoenix PDs Firebird whenever they needed air, and in a pinch, called DPSs Ranger at Fire Station 41.

I remember in the early 1990s, Scottsdale PD leased a Hughes 500E for a couple of weeks to evaluate an air support capability. Following testing, the idea sort of fizzled out.

[juskl]

The problem with Phx is that they are huge. Even though they have at least two birds up at all times, they are just too busy. More often than not, we can't get them. MCSO hardly flies due to money issues. DPS is usually not available. We usually need them ASAP.

Scottsdale was able to pass a Bond issue, but put it on hold when the financial problems hit the state two years ago. They told me that they hope to have it up and going within two years.

Hey Aloft, what did that acronym mean??? I didn't get it. Sorry, maybe I need more coffee

[MikeD]

NYANG= New York Air National Guard.

Yeah, I forgot about MCSO and their air contingent. True enough about them never flying for money purposes. Heck, most of the county deputies get paid next to squat anyway.....Pinal County and Santa Cruz county being two of the lowest paid in AZ off the top of my head. You know pay is bad when you have guys leave the state police (DPS) to lateral to one of the city PDs like PHX or SDL.

[juskl]

And the governor just shot down the pay raise deal for the DP S guys. Our Officers in Glendale average about 15K more a year than theirs. And we are one of the lower paid in the valley right now. Though I look for that to change soon. Most county and DPS guys end up going to city agencies after a while. Mostly because of the pay. They have good people though.

[MikeD]

That's the same thing I've been hearing about the pay issued with the DPS guys. My cousin is a DPS officer. Says most of the guys get sick of the pay, while some don't care for having to be available for statewide assignment/re-assignment; would prefer more of the city PD lifestyle. Regards pay, you'd think that, logically, the state police agency would pay very well, but from what I remember him telling me, DPS sits at about #15 for AZ agencies, with PHX and SDL PD near the top...probably with Glendale/Chandler/Mesa equal or very close behind. Don't know about Tempe other than, being a landlocked town, there's seemingly not much growth in the department, and hence slower advancement, comparitively. My cousin is topped-out as an Officer 3, no desire to test for Sgt since it won't be much better pay, and he'll open himself up to being sent anywhere in the state (in any capacity) that a Sgt is needed. Would suck to be going from plainclothes in PHX to armory Sgt in Flagstaff, or something like that.

As for the valley agencies, the only ones I don't know much about are Gilbert, Peoria, Goodyear, Avondale, Apache Junction, and whoever patrols Buckeye. Any intel on them? I know that Peoria has expanded up to the Lake Pleasant area, but that's about the extent of my knowlege of their city and PD

[juskl]

Peoria will get better. They are having major growing pains right now. They do pay well though. They start in the low 40's and top at about 60 for Officers. That is base (not including Holiday, uniform, OT, etc.

Buckeye has their own PD. Acutally, Land mass wise, Buckeye is larger then Phx (scary). They have the potential to be bigger in population (in theory) over the next 40 years. Right now the major growth is in the west valley. I live in Surprise and what has happened here is just amazing. In just 5 years the population has about quadrupled. Let's hope they can keep up with the growth. I don't know too much about Apache Junction other than they had major internal probalems a little while back.

Imagine Phx being bigger than LA? That would bite hard.

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't know too much about Apache Junction other than they had major internal probalems a little while back.

.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's still going on, with talk of replacing the chief. Speaking of internal problems, do you remember Peoria Fire Dept. little scandal last year?

[juskl]

Oh yeah.......... That was a deffinate PR killer. Unfortuately the Frat Boy mentality still stays with some of these guys long after college (like into their 40's). Unfortunate to say the least. They have alot of good people, but due to that, they didn't come out looking well.

[FlyChicaga]

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.