Cheating death and fighting communism: that is how a fellow officer once described our job. It was meant to be funny, but as time went on it seemed all too true.
I spent more than ten years in law enforcement, all of it on the street in uniform patrol. I've been a patrol officer, instructor, sergeant and lieutenant.
Do not report crimes here. Nothing here should be considered legal advice. All opinions are my own.
The desire to help people - to make a difference. All of those things I mentioned above suck the life out of you. But with good friends, family and faith in God supporting you, the job can be done.
There were many times that I was going to a call that I would have preferred avoid, but I knew I had the skills and disposition to handle it. Who wants to go to the call where a man just committed suicide in front of his wife by sticking a gun in his mouth and pulling the trigger? No one. But, as I often questioned myself, "if not me, then who?"
There are upsides to the job, though they are rarely visible to, or understood by, anyone outside of law enforcement.
The Navy is a good way to go. My family has had at least one man in the US Navy continuously since 1943. You definitely want to talk to a recruiter about the asthma, but I don't think it would bar you from service.
I value them all. If you are asking me to arbitrarily rank them in order of importance, I cannot. What duty is the officer trying to perform? Every task is different and requires varying degrees of each of the above. Also time in grade does not equate to experience. Also, experiences vary widely. Are the experiences in roles as a trainer, investigator, narcotics officer, or what? A highly educated homicide investigator with ten years of violent crime investigations may get his butt kicked the first night he rotates back to patrol and goes to a bar disturbance, while the two-year officer with nothing more than a high school diploma saves him. There is no neat way of quantifying police officers.
Call your local police department and ask for their assistance. They will know what to do.
Chef
Do you get offended when a customer sends back a dish?
Veterinarian
Do you think keeping monkeys as pets is a bad idea?
Forensic Scientist
When did you know you wanted to work with the dead?
Feel free to ask anything you like.
Any misdemeanor offense can carry a penalty of three months. So, pretty much anything from driving with a suspended license to shoplifting to punching his wife.
I don't know. Contact a police or sheriff's department in Texas.
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