Wired Pig's World

Updated - 080304. Update in purple.

Becoming a cop or moving from one agency to another is never easy. There are several sites out there that will help. Among the old standards of Monster.com there are several employment sites for cops -

• Police Employment.com
• CopsOnline employment section
• 911 Hot Jobs
• Jobs4Police
• The Blue Line
• Job.com
• Employment 911
• CopCareer
• PoliceJobs.net
• Officer.com - THE Police Source... a ton of other information as well.
• Oregon LE Jobs - This site is run by the state of Oregon and shows openings from across the state and its updated weekly on Friday. There are no links to follow; but searching for Sweet Home Police Oregon in Google will return the PD's website.

If you are currently certified and have experience,as I do, it tends to make things a tad easier. You still need to fill out all the apps, etc. but as in Oregon where I am looking it makes getting on and through the Career Development Course (2 weeks vs. 10 for the full academy) less of a time issue.

Make and update your resume. It makes it easier to fill out the applications if your resume is current. That or keep detailed records. When you write it target the agency its sent to. Make your resume fit them. If you have experience with community policing and they are big on COP, make sure its in your resume. Make sure if your a deputy and your looking to become a patrol officer for a city that you note your interpersonal skills... not that you hand the inmates toilet paper after dinner. Pull out relevant information from your recent appraisals and use that. I've been called a 'Low Contact Employee' which translates to a low supervision officer. I am rarely watched by my sergeant and I get the job and reports done on time.

• Keep in mind that when it comes to your employment history a lot of job changing in a short period of time looks BAD. No way around it.
• The more skills you have the better your odds will be.

Make sure you stay in contact with the agency your looking at getting on with. Research the city or county for demographics, the FBI's UCR data and departmental information and structure. If the agency will let you, do a ride-a-long and see what the officers actually do, what the beats look like, etc.

While this is not an all inclusive list, I hope it helps.