I recently had the first (of many) interviews in the application process for my local police service. The interviewer made a few remarks about how young I am (I’m 23, fresh out of University. 5’10” 170lbs) and advised me to spend some time thinking about whether I’m “ready” to be a cop (the impression I got from him was that he didn’t quite think I was “ready.”)
I’m well aware that I’m still young and a little dumb. I’m not unintelligent (I actually did very well on the cognitive exam) and my interpersonal skills are great, but I do still have a decent amount of that residual lack of common sense and boneheadedness a lot of other young adults do. You get the gist – I can be fairly dense sometimes.
I have no intentions of doing any other career, so I guess what question I’m REALLY asking is: does this have a chance of biting me in the rear later, such as causing me to wash out during my field training or something? Are good training officers generally able to beat that out of younger recruits?
I get that it’s more or less impossible to answer this question without knowing or talking to me personally, but I’m interested to see if anyone has any insights or experience with this kind of thing. I’d also be quite interested in hearing from any other younger recruits who felt uniquely challenged at some point during training due to your relative inexperience in life. I live in Canada if that matters.
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I’d highly recommend working in a jail. It’s a great way to get experience in dealing with people and learning how to properly de-escalate. It would also look very good if you had the jail as a reference for a law enforcement job.
It sounds like he’s telling you you’re immature. If that’s true, it will show up in your psych evaluation, long before you get to something like FTO
I was in your shoes. I applied at 7 different departments before I was hired. I spent over 40 years on the job and retired in 2019. Keep applying.
I know of one person who failed FTO, ironically on his first week of FTO he had to shoot a lady who rushed him and his trainer with a knife and did it flawlessly & completely by the book but everything else he failed with flying colors so they stuck him in the court after failing twice.
Point is anyone can be trained to shoot or how to write a citation but how to talk to people, knowing when to use discretion, etc, etc can’t really be taught by something other than through life experience
I went through the academy when I was 22, the youngest in my class.. some advice I would give you is to start off somewhere within an agency.There are positions that are non sworn, jailer, corrections, community services animal control, etc.. gain experience, reports, how to talk to people. After about a year or two, you’ve gained a vast amount of knowledge and when you’re ready to apply you’ll be that much ahead of your class. Good luck.
I would recommend travel or doing something in an entry LE job like in jail like someone mentioned. I’m in my late 20’s now and I consider myself to be a goal oriented person so I was really bummed out when I didnt become a police officer when i was 20 LOL looking at it now and being in the field, holy cow, am i eve glad i didnt get into this field when i was under 25years old. you see so many shit and it makes you cynical, slowly but surely-ish.
solid core values, foundation and hobbies is what’ll get your through this job. find those and you should be okay. end of that day, you cant force something youre not meant to do until its time.
There is no telling what the interviewer meant or was looking for.
It could have been a subtle challenge to say you need to spend time thinking about it and see if you responded with, I have thought quite a lot about it and I am ready.
It could have been a nice way of saying, I don’t think you’re ready yet.
I spent 37 years at one police department. I went through 7 chiefs who had different ideas and methods of hiring. Some I agreed with and some I didn’t. There were some people that we hired that I could not believe made it through the hiring process and others that I thought should have made it, didn’t. That’s the nature of the hiring process. Some things I thought were ridiculous but that was the chief’s decision and in some instances state law.
So was the interviewer just a hard opinion person? Did he have a preconceived opinion on age? Was he following the chief’s orders for people under 25? Do you really appear to be that immature?
Who can tell who isn’t under the rules of that agency or that interview?
Apply at other departments. If you’re getting similar responses at other locations, that might indicate an issue. On the other hand you might go to the next interview and knock it out of the park.
The job isn’t going anywhere. If you feel like you are still ‘young and dumb’, go get some life experiences and do a job that challenges you. I’m sure glad I didn’t get into this circus until I was 29, I would have been a terrible cop at 23 lol.
That being said maybe he was just feeling your commitment and how much thought you have put into this career choice. The last thing anyone wants is for you to go through academy-post-fto-probation onoy for you to decide it’s not for you. Or at least thay might be the reasoning for feeling you out that way 🤷🏻♂️ honestly none of us know lol I’m just spitballing for you man.
Honestly Even though i got hired at 21 before quitting later. I regret joining so early & i had to work harder and struggle more than others. I wish at I applied to be a evidence custodian or police aide or some shit .
Work that job for 4-5 years while finishing college or just chill before applying sworn. Those jobs pay well believe it or not and alot of times its day time hours believe it or not. For Example Police Aide pays 54k where im from. Dispatcher pays even more. Thats more than what some sworn personnel here make minis the sweet sweet ass police pension.
But mind you alot of people get hired into law enforcement at 19 (or used to) Departments FTO difficulty tends to wax and wane in my experience. While im older My fto got hired at 19 but he couldnt hack it at a big agency and ended up coming to whosville.
A few people on here are saying work in the jails, i have never seen anyone more miserable in life than jailers. Could just be our jail (notoriously shitty) but our adjacent county jails, everyone looked like they hated their life too. I went into my first academy, failed out just a few weeks before graduation ( injury) and became a probation officer for 2 years before taking another crack at it. Now i’m 28 and about to get off FTO in the next month.
What i can tell you is that this is not a job you can be “young and dumb”. I couldn’t imagine me at 21 doing this job and the jump from 25 (first academy age) to now is even a biggish jump. A lot of people join around 30 and they seem to be the one’s to make it in the long run. Life experience is really crucial and you might not just have it yet and people you’ll deal with will now. Even me, who was arresting people on probation look green on the road still.
FYI i work for a large division in the midwest and we have plenty of dumbasses who get caught doing things they shouldn’t. You do not want to be one of them trust me. One of my classmates was on the news within the first 30 days of our FTO program. We all called it in the academy. Now he may even lose his job and career before it even began.
If you want to take the jail route temporarily great, but retail, customer service does a lot too. Basically any job people can yell at you and teach you composure will work. Goodluck bud!
Sounds like you need to show them you’re ready. Did you do any ride alongs?
I just had this conversation today with my FTO. Four years ago I started it off in the state prisons and back then I was asked the same question when coming from customer service am I ready. I would really suggest working in a jail or prison order to be “ ready“. But in the reality of it, I have seen people come from professions that had nothing to do with law-enforcement and you just perfectly. It’s all about the person you choose to become and how you talk to people
I second the notion of joining a sheriff’s office and working the jail first. You’ll become very familiar with use of force policy, you’ll learn how to talk to amped up individuals and how to de escalate situations. You’ll become familiar with the statutes, and the court system. As an added bonus, you’ll learn the frequent flyers in your areas and will be building a rapport with them. This alone can make your job on patrol significantly easier and more productive. You’ll likely be armed (depending on your area/agency) and will be pretty well prepared for the academy.
I myself am a sheriff deputy working the county correctional facility. I find it to be a fantastic entry into the world of law enforcement. My agency is one of the leading LE agencies in Kansas, and I hold a lot of pride in being part of it. Here, every deputy starts in the jail for a year or so before being selected to hit the road.
You’re not too young. It’s good that you recognize the typical younger issues, but law enforcement will mature you. It will humble you. I joined at 38 years old and I think being older definitely helped with the added maturity and patience; inmates tend to find me easier to talk to about things and relate more easily to me. But definitely join up; we need good people in the ranks now more than ever. This is a day and age where nobody wants to get into LE…..which makes it even more important to step up to the plate.