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When I decided to become a cop, I was dismayed to learn that most of the departments I was interested in required me to be twenty one years old to even apply. I was thirteen at the time, so waiting eight more years to realize my dream seemed almost inconceivable. After graduating high school at 18, I decided that if I ...

Twelve years ago I got my first departmental email address and thought it was the coolest and most comprehensive electronic communication tool that I would ever use or need. I also assumed it was completely private, belonged only to me and that when I hit “delete” it went away forever. For an oldster who was born prior to 1960, I’ve learned ...

Through all of the law-enforcement hiring articles, emails, and discussions I've been involved with, one thing has become clear: a person’s ability to be hired is not in the stars. It's in the patterns you can read in their lives, and police chiefs, sheriffs, and the recruiters and background investigators that work with them, are looking for those patterns. The best ...

I had been a field training sergeant for several years when we hired a new recruit who sat down with my boss and told him that she really didn’t have the time or the inclination to go through all that silly police academy and patrol officer stuff. She asked to be immediately assigned to our Investigations Division as a detective, and ...

A polygraph exam is often a “make or break” part of the police testing process, but it’s often difficult to prepare for and even understand. As Richard Nixon said “I don’t know anything about lie detectors other than they scare the hell out of people!” Polygraph testing is used far more in government pre-employment processes than in the private sector. In ...

The prospect of firearms training in the pressure-filled law enforcement academy setting is either loved or hated by cadets. Few blocks of instruction, save for physical training and defensive tactics, conjures up such extremes in emotion. As a certified firearms instructor and an executive over basic police academies, I have seen first hand the issues that trip up aspiring gun-toting law ...

When I finally got hired by the police department, where I would eventually spend the majority of my law enforcement career, I was so thrilled to receive that letter of appointment that I didn’t bother to find out how much money I’d be taking home each week. I’d been involved in the testing process for months, I was 21, single, still ...

Wouldn't it be great if there was one and _only one_ police entrance exam for every department in the nation? However, as many of you know, that's just not the case. Every police agency has different requirements and different attributes they are looking for in an employee, which means you could take a dozen police entrance exams and none of them ...

It seems like all we hear in the media is economic doom and gloom. Granted, unemployment is high, layoffs are common, and it’s easy to get discouraged. But it really is possible to get hired, even in this economy. The Reality of a Lousy Economy A bad economy tends to mean a higher crime rate; more crime means more cops. It’s ...

Degrees such as Criminal Justice, Homeland Security, and Forensic Science seem like the logical choice for a planned career in law enforcement, but they’re not the only choice, and sometimes may not even be the best option. [widget:366] Many law enforcement agencies, federal investigative agencies in particular, are involved in very complex investigations every day of the year -investigations that cannot ...

Criminal Justice programs combine a broad variety of topics and discliplines related to law enforcement, the courts, and America’s criminal justice system. Most Criminal Justice programs offer specific concentrations to focus on, such as: [widget:366] • Crime and criminology for those interested in law enforcement • Justice Policy for those interested in law and public policy • Community Justice for those ...

My mom was a school teacher and both my parents were college-educated so I spent most of my childhood enduring frequent lectures about the importance of academics. Grades were not a problem for me until I entered middle school; then there were just too many other interesting things to do besides study and my grades slipped a bit. This did not ...

In the general orders or in the personnel manual of virtually every police organization there is language about "ethics" and "integrity." But what exactly does than mean? Ethics is an easy word to throw around and yet very hard to define. Police officers are held to a higher standard than the general public, both on and off duty, but do we ...

When I became a cop in 1980 many of the veteran officers made fun of the new recruits who had college degrees. We heard things like “What are you going to do in that bar fight, Rookie, hit ‘em with your diploma?!” And to be honest, at the time I really didn’t see how my four year degree in “Law Enforcement ...

Because there are millions of scholarships available, you’re almost guaranteed to fit eligibility requirements. We have hundreds of scholarships worth millions of dollars that are available to just about anyone. Many students assume that they have to be brilliant, or athletically talented, or gifted musically, to earn a scholarship for college. What they don’t realize is that sometimes they just need ...

Once you’ve passed the written test, the oral interview, the physical agility test, and you’ve successfully jumped through a few other hoops, you’re probably ready for the background investigation. How ironic that part of the process to become a crime fighter is to be investigated by one! In this competitive job market, the background investigation is becoming even more important to ...

As the role of science and technology plays an increasingly important role in solving crimes, more and more law enforcement agencies are employing civilian crime scene analysts and crime lab scientists. If you share a love of both science and law enforcement, then pursuing a degree in Forensic Science will be quite rewarding. [widget:366] Forensic Science is the application of scientific ...

You’ve decided to go back to college. You figured how to pay for it (or have your agency do so). You’ve set up a place in your home to study for exams and do papers. But here’s the question that many people ask…what should you study? Picking a major has never been harder than it is now. With the explosion of ...

PoliceLink has partnered with Informed, the premier publisher for public safety field guides, to provide our members with exclusive downloadable versions of the new 3rd Edition Law Enforcement Field Guide, free of charge. The new 3rd edition Law Enforcement Field Guide™ offers instant access to vital information for all law enforcement, corrections, and reserve officers, including supervisors & commanders. It puts ...

You can accelerate your career in law enforcement by having a degree from a reputable university, as well as being good at your job. Nowadays many jurisdictions require college education as a prerequisite to hiring for most law enforcement positions. Not only does a good education improve your skills and talents, but it also enhances the likelihood you’ll get that next ...