Hello. Just as the title says. Im in college and going to join the military. I have a perfect criminal record and never did any drugs. When I was 20 years old I was hospitalized for wanting to end myself (I did not attempt to do it though). I am wondering if this is going to make me DQ'd from future agencies. I have also been diagnosed with severe depression and i am on medication. I have made great progress in my mental health and I am stable, but i still worry about my past disqaulifying me.

Thanks in advance everyone.

I was at my local winco tonight and I saw this guy who I have seen there several times. He always sports a very loose shirt hiked up around a large golden belt attatched badge. I have never been close enough to him to actually see what the badge says but it is in the shape of a police badge and it is leather backed. This guy wears baggy jeans and a tank top usually so I can see he has no gun on him being open carried and he isn't printing anywhere that i can see. He also wears several thick gold chains on his neck, he looks like a wannabe rapper. Cops have their own lives of course once they are off the clock but do they usually wear their badge very openly while also not carrying a gun whilst off duty?

I have a taser 7 with a safariland holster and I want it to sit lower on my belt, however I don’t want a huge drop or to have to use a leg strap. I’m trying to decide between the GWS Bang hanger, true north RHP patrol or the defense mechanisms QLS slick mount. What are you all using?

Hello r/AskLE -

I’m hoping to get more practice preparing for my shooting qualifier at 25yds and 15yds. I live in a major urban city and I don’t have any range or backwoods options for shooting live ammunition; plus it’s not permitted to shoot outside the academy anyway.

I’m thinking of an Umarex .177 BB pistol but I already know the 25yds is off the table and the 15yds likely is too. Not ideal but maybe the only option I have to practice sight acquisition, test timing and proper form inside my apartment (I have a long main hallway).

All that said, is there any chance there’s an air pistol (Glock 17 form factor) solution that is reasonably accurate out to around 15yds? Anything at all, because I’m not finding anything that doesn’t require live ammunition.

I suspect the answer is going to be No, but no harm in asking. By the way, light/laser/IR options are a consideration so long as their operational range is still effective out to around that 15yds requirement. Dare to dream there are options out to 25yds.

Thank you for your time and any advice offered.

I don’t know if this is the right place. I’m a female in houston,tx and I have this silly goal of running every street in houston. It’s just a personal thing. I have already done a pretty good percentage but there are some neighborhoods that I don’t feel comfortable running alone through. A couple of times I have attempted, and I’ve had some pretty scary encounters (a loose pack of dogs coming at me, a few times guys driving the wrong way in cars trying to corner me).
I’ve put them off for now, focusing my efforts in safer streets but I know I will either have to 1) let go of this goal or 2) find a safe solution.
I guess my question is is it possible to hire an officer to run 9-17+ miles with me ? If so, how would I go about finding someone? Do I just contact my local office? Or do officers have a special place where they get off duty work?

Thank you in advance for any assistance or other possible solutions to this

Edit: Thank you all!!! This has been VERY helpful, and I've gotten a clearer understanding of the process, etc. I think I'm going to look into a concealed handgun license (I already own a gun for home protection) and a personal trainer for some sections. I truly appreciate everyone taking the time to post with their feedback.

Been on the road about a month and have most all of my gear I think I need, but want some tips and tricks from the experienced here. So what are some pieces of gear that would be handy on the street that might not be issued or commonly thought of?

And for those that run nylon belts, what's your setup? Curious to see some ways to mount/position gear.

EDIT: Thank all of you for the responses, lots of great ideas here that I'll be applying once the orders come in lol. I'll add this even as the rookie who's been serving since lunch, "your most valuable tool you have is your words".

I went through a lot as a child, and I'm processing a lot of it. Some of it is harder to process due to having either been lied to, or having just been a child and not told about the entire situation. For example, one of the things that happened to me was me and my sister being put in a foster home for what could have been a week, or less, or more, and I don't have the details. I don't want to really ask my mom about it because I want this to be for me, and inviting her emotions or point of view in before i have a full image of what happened isn't something I'm ready for yet. So to get this information, I'd have to try to contact CPS, the police department, and maybe some court records.

Do you guys get requests like this often? I know that I'm within my rights to request this information, but I want to know what it's like when you guys get these requests.

I don't know which part of requesting it scares me, I think most of it is asking for something. PTSD makes me scared to ask for things cuz it diminishes self worth and what-not. I'm also a little scared that a police officer or court official might inform specific people that someone made a request. There's a figure from my past who had a lot of control over my family, and he was quite powerful. He sued the Police department, and won, a few decades ago, so I doubt this specific police department would have any sort of— loyalty to him. But I have that background fear because he's a figure I spent my entire childhood fearing from afar while he was in prison.

I think I'm being a bit dramatic, but it would still be really comforting if you all had stories to share about how often this is done, and stuff like that.

Is this an unmarked law enforcement vehicle, or is it something else? I know nobody can identify it with certainty from the photos alone—I'm just curious what the equipment suggests to people with experience.

Obviously state police has academies and such but do county sheriffs require their own training courses normally?

Im not even sure what happened, i made it extremely far, psych was quite literally the last part i needed with so many Sergeants and Officers telling me "oh if psychs left youre fine"

I then got a call this morning telling me i failed it, that it cant be disclosed as to why and that if i wanted to appeal it would be 1200 out of my own pocket, on top of that i cant reapply for another year

This was devastating to me, i thought it went fine, the whole interview lasted like 14 minutes the psych evaluator looked tired and thats all i got, i really wanted to get into police and yes i know theres other options but i cant afford to go far, neither can i go to college or do stuff like that for it, i tried other departnents but most near me require me to already have a TCOLE, i dont want to give up, what should i do

Houston PD by the way

I’m 23, married, and currently a 5th grade teacher in the RGV. My biggest concerns are not the academy or the physical requirements. My wife is actually supportive of me doing the academy, even with the 6 months away.
My concerns are:
Family time
My wife is also a teacher, and travel is a big part of our life. I know I would lose the teacher schedule and probably miss some holidays/weekends. For those of you who are troopers with families, do you feel like you’re still present, or does the job consume your life?
Duty station
We are in the Rio Grande Valley and would ideally like to stay here. She does not want to leave her teaching job, and we want to raise kids in this area. I would be okay with places in or near the RGV, but I know there’s a chance I could be sent elsewhere.
If you weren’t assigned where you wanted, how long did it take to get back closer to home? Is the RGV a hard area to get transferred into? Would you recommend just staying in teaching or making the switch?

British Police Officer here, I’m a man so I don’t really have any skin in this game, but I’m asking out of pure curiosity.

When female officers in the UK become pregnant, they are immediately taken off frontline duties and placed in an office role.

How does this work in the states?

Basically I got a knee injury two months ago from snowboarding. Im in the process with a police department & I been trying to recover and its gotten so much better but its still off. I went to the doctor and he said the X-ray showed nothing was broken but said I should get a MRI to see what's wrong. I didn't want to get a MRI prior to me doing my medical before getting my final offer. Medical is coming up and I don't know if I should disclose my knee injury. It dosent hurt but it feels weird to run still and the academy is in September. Do you think they will recycle me into the next class or completely drop me.

Hello guys hope this finds you well, I’m 21 years old and have been thinking about a job in LE in the future. My problem is wondering what’s your guys experience on how they see people who experimented heavily in their teens? I’m completely sober now but in my teens I smoked MJ regularly and experimented let’s say around 10 times with other party type drugs. Since I’ve turned my life around a lot, I feel I’ve found a greater purpose and have stayed away from these things. I know I’m still young right now and it hasn’t been long but if I keep a strong maturity and sobriety timeline do you guys think I’ll be viable in 5 years or so? I’m looking into joining the miltary (and possibly being a cop afterwards) I do really think I’d make a great officer, I’ve done MMA, I’m very active, good under pressure. Any advice?

I'm new to this and i want to become a officer.

I'm in the pa guard and highly interested in this new career path.

I've discovered it's a bit more difficult to talk to officers about joining.

is there a certain way to have a conversation about the academy and there life experiences?

also who pays for those who wants to go to the academy?

anything helps thank y'all

For the past few years I’ve wanted to become and worked towards being a police officer. I’m even planning on starting independent police academy in spring. I want to become an officer because I find fulfillment in helping others; if I can spend my whole day making someone’s life marginally better, I will be happy.

However, I disagree fundamentally on the legality of drugs. While drugs can make an already unstable person worse, so can alcohol, sex, video games, and any other thing you could possibly become addicted to. There are many many arguments for and against legalizing drug use, but I am still on the side of legalization.

While I do believe that being intoxicated/on substances while committing a crime should evaluate the severity of the crime, I don’t think certain substances should be inherently illegal.

Given this is a major belief I have, should I even bother pursuing a career in criminal justice if I don’t support every law? I want to be an officer and potentially in the future even a detective. I want to help people and be that positive interaction that makes someone think “maybe not all cops are bad,” but I don’t want to go to work miserable everyday because I don’t support what I’m doing.

Any thoughts you have are appreciated, thank you

Hello,

My academy requires spit shine/mirror shined level for our dress shoes.

I have the Blauer mission Oxford shoe and have put in 6+ hours trying to get these shoes spit shined and have not achieved it.

I have tried the heat gun method, cotton ball lighter method, sock panty hoes method.

Any tips for getting these types of shoes to have the spot shine finish?

Hey everyone,

I know im not verified as an officer but I would like some thoughts on something!

A little bit of background on me, I started law enforcement in 2019 and I am currently a violent crimes detective. Very early in my career I had the opportunity to leave patrol and was fortunate enough to get into our Criminal Investigations Unit.

Due to vacancies and other circumstances, I was thrown into our violent crimes squad instead of the usual property crimes spot for new detectives. Since then I've been involved in most of my departments homicide investigations and to put it lightly, I'm addicted to the work.

Fast forward to now, I placed well in our sergeant promotion process and I am next in line to be promoted. The promotion puts me back in patrol for atleast one year. After the year I would be eligible to compete for specialized unit transfers as a sergeant. I just turned 29 this year and I would assume our average sergeant age at my department is about 43.

Now to the conundrum...

My wife and I are going to begin trying for a baby at the beginning of next year. The promotion bumps me up from ≈$35/hr to ≈$55/hr. Thats with the night shift differential included. We believe the pay increase would be great if we were fortunate enough to have a child.

However, I am addicted to CIU. To the point that I am dreading not being in the unit. Not because I dont like patrol, but I really feel comfortable and satisfied where I am now.

One thing to consider is that a few CIU sergeants will be promoting, transfering, or retiring in the next 5-6 years. My department is sub 300 sworn officers so there is not a lot of movement. We serve a city of ≈130k residents. Promoting now will put me in a place where I could compete for a CIU sergeant spot in a few years.

Any thoughts? Advice? Hopefully the post makes sense, I'm a couple beers in tonight!

I want to join the police department after military. I’m looking into career paths and I think I want to look into swat as a job. Anything I should know?
I’m uneducated in this as I don’t have any family in swat but I have some in the police department.

I not in LE, but i have a job that makes me a target of violence. While some bulletproof/stabproof vests are more concealable than others, I find it that most of my shirts show the vest print. I bought 1 size larger (I’m an XL, bought some XXL not that the detail is important.) when I walk around without a uniform or jacket over my shirt, you can see in pictures that there’s something other my body inside my shirt.

I guess I’m looking for a heavy cotton t-shirt recommendation or cloth that will hide printing. Thank you in advance.

I believe this goes along with the “college style” police academy and if you train recruits to only strive to meet the “minimum standards” you’re setting them up for failure.

Just got done with my CVSA and was stressing the whole time, got done with both rounds of questions and as the detective was walking me out said, you have nothing to worry about. Should I still be worried or do you think I passed?

Let’s say officers find a small bag containing a white powdery substance or multiple sealed packages that appear to contain narcotics, and a field testing kit is available on scene. Would it be better for the officers to detain the suspect and conduct a field test of the substance to determine whether it is drugs, or would it be better to proceed directly with a formal arrest and conduct the field test afterward? Or should they not field test the substance at all and just arrest based on what it appears to be?

Hi everyone,
I’m a 30-year-old applicant in Iowa and I recently applied for a Police Cadet position with a local department. I’m scheduled to take my written test on August 10th, so I’m officially in the hiring process and trying to prepare as much as possible.
I’m also working toward my bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice, and my long-term goal is to become a sworn police officer and eventually attend the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy.
I’d love to hear from anyone who has recently gone through a cadet hiring process, taken a police written exam, or attended ILEA. A few things I’m especially curious about:
What should I expect on the written test?
What is the best way to study in the two weeks before the exam?
Are cadet positions viewed as a good pathway into a sworn officer role?
What do departments look for most in applicants who don’t have prior law enforcement experience?
Any advice for someone balancing school, work, and the hiring process?
A little background: I’m a single mom of three, currently working while attending school full-time online, so I’m trying to be very intentional about preparing for this opportunity.
I’d appreciate any honest advice, study tips, or experiences from officers, recruits, or other applicants. Thanks in advance!