Hi everyone! I am new to this forum and pretty excited I found it! LE is something my wife and I have been talking about for a while. A couple of questions to anyone who may hold the knowledge:

1) Online colleges.... I hear good and bad. My problem right now is that I am in sales. Therefor, I have no set schedule. I would like the freedom to be able to tend to school at any and all times. One of my main concerns with online colleges is that the school will not be "honored" by potential employers as a regular college. Are online schools just as good as ones you physically attend? I have heard that some employers won't even consider an online degree as a real degree. That would be such a waste! I am not experienced on this matter so please, someone, elaborate. Also, any particular schools??

2) Forensics, toxicology- Maybe I watch too much Court TV and CSI, but I think this would be an awesome job. Anybody in these fields or related fields that could give me some helpful insight or advice?

3) Pay- Going from a sales job to a set salary job is scary, and mind easing at the same time. I know a lot of professions in Law Enforcement do not pay much. Yet another reason for considering continuing my education. Would the career path I am seeking be a good choice as far as pay grade is concerned? I am the sole provider for my family. And as you can tell in my avatar pic, I have newborn twins. Yeah buddy! That's right, I'm the man =)

Plenty of more questions to come since I have been proactive in my search for exactly.... 5 hours now. But I am passionate about it. So please, feel free to respond and give advice where needed.

Welcome and Congrats on the twins!! Good Luck in your search. ;-)

HAAAHAHAHAA, funny trusty.

Sense of humor is required if you are going to enjoy the off duty po-pos.

LOL that was good.

dustinmccarley said:

trusty said:

You gotta be shittin me.

Was it numbering the questions that confused you Trusty? Thank you to everyone else for the warm welcome. And Trusty for attempting to provide some helpful insight into a topic that he knows nothing about. A for effort.

I was tossin' it back. no harm no foul. I actually edited it after reading it because I sounded like an ass... Which wasn't my intention. No Odin, it can't be purchased, and some people sound "special" for attempting to have one.

Dustin,

I am an online student for the most part... What I suggest to you is to make sure that the degree you are going for is accepted in your state or local PD. Your best bet is to pick a college that is located in your state rather than one that is out of state. I can tell you this it is pricey to do online schooling; however the learning is so much better than sitting in a class room. Look at it this way you learn from a bunch of people across the US not just the people that live in your area. Saying this you are able to learn different techniques as well as get very different opinions, which to me equals more education for say... Either way it saves time to be able to take your school work to work with you.... But you better like reading and writing because 90% of the work you do is in this form. Good Luck!

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Dustin, If your family is behind you 100%, then you will do well in LE... We don't do this for the pay, but I have 3 children and am the the sole provider for my family and while we will never be rich, we are very happy.... And thats what counts!

trusty said:

dustinmccarley said:

trusty said:

You gotta be shittin me.

Was it numbering the questions that confused you Trusty? Thank you to everyone else for the warm welcome.

Dustin, what confused me is your total ignorance regarding the profession. First, you're probably not going to get a wealth of information on the virtues of attending a traditional college versus an on line college on a Police web site. Next, CSI's and toxicologists are scientists, not cops. There are not a lot of people with advanced degrees waiting to go to the police acadamy. Finally, the pay is what it is. In the SF Bay Area you can start at 80k plus per year. Go 70 miles n/east and you'll be lucky to get 40k. Good luck son, in what ever you endeavor you want to do. There is a term in this business called "gallos humor" and thats what I tried t to impart on you if you're really interested in 'the job'.

Ignorance in the profession? Ummm..... Yeah! I didn't know how to make this anymore obvious. I guess that should have been numbered also. Seeing that my background is military, I figured a police forum would be a good start compared to a college advisor. You know, get it from the horses mouth, not a jackass. It looked as though there was plenty of information on other career paths aside from just police. Therefor, I am asking questions.... To those it pertains to.... Or to those who know.... Not to those who don't *wink*.

If your words have no relevance to the topic that I posted, why post? I'm glad you were able to show me the ropes, Pops, but I am looking for advice pertaining to my original questions. So far your rebuttals have been a waste of both of our time. Thank you for the warm wishes on my future, as I wish you the same.

And thank you Clover for some advice on online schooling. That is exactly what I am looking for.

dustinmccarley said:

Thank you to everyone who has been helpful. I am not in it for the money either, I don't get paid to volunteer. I just need to make sure that there will be bread on the table. I checked out the online schools on this website but I couldn't find much info about them. I need to do a more in depth search.

Hmmm, well that was very patriotic of me, the only thing that speech is missing is an American flag...........I'll go get some more beer, good night........

DUDE you are barking at the wrong people here.
I can tell you this much, yiou have the wrong attitude to be a cop if you think trusty was being to hard on you or you dont think he should say anything unless it helps you. this is an open forum, lighten up roll with the punches,or shut up and move along.joust or be jousted.

ODIN said:

DUDE you are barking at the wrong people here.
I can tell you this much, yiou have the wrong attitude to be a cop if you think trusty was being to hard on you or you dont think he should say anything unless it helps you. this is an open forum, lighten up roll with the punches,or shut up and move along.joust or be jousted.

Yes, very patriotic indeed NYPD. As you can see on my profile, I was Infantry for 5 years.... So the money issue was never a problem for me. But if this is going to be my career, then I would like to make sure it is in a financial category that I can work with.

ODIN- You and that other guy should go be post whores on another topic. Unless, of course, you would like to contribute to mine or give me some good solid advice of some kind relevant to the topic.... Not on how I should talk or respond to other people. I've been wiping my own ass for several years now so I don't think my hand needs to be held on internet forums. I'll joke, play, and be sarcastic when I want to. This is my career and my life that I am asking serious questions about. So *Shut up and move along* is exactly what you and your friend need to do.

CLOVER- How do you like Kaplan? It's more expensive than regular college? Is Kaplan just honored in your state or is it national? It seems as though you like it. I'm just trying to decide on whether it would be worth my time and money to do it online. If it's not even honored in my state, it would be a total waste.

PIPE DOWN ALL! Or we will have this topic deleted..... One the rules state

- Argue all you want, but be respectful. This forum is provided to you for free, and is a public forum, but that does not give you the right to be disrespectful.

So let’s please keep this to a min if possible..... With out name calling.....