AboutJack Toomey Expertise U.S.: I am an expert in this category for the purpose of giving young people an idea what the hiring process for the position of police officer involves.
Please do not ask me about potential jail sentences that you, your friends, or family might receive in court. There is no way for me to know that. I am NOT a probation officer so I cannot answer questions about probation and parole matters. I am a retired police officer with 26 years experience.I worked in a variety of assignments including investigations, homicide, sex crimes, runaway investigations, missing persons, and fraud.I also dealt with the general public during that time giving a wide range of advice on matters such as domestic disputes, problem solving, teenage problems, civil/criminal matters, and dealing with the mentally ill. I am available to give sound and reasonable advice which can solve most problems.
Please do not ask me to do homework questions or online interviews. Young people should not rely on the Internet for interviews. Local police officers are normally very agreeable to assist students with interviews and surveys.
Experience Worked as a police officer/detective for 26 years.
Graduate of the University of Maryland.B.S. in Law Enforcement.Attended numerous schools and training courses involving investigations, interviewing, interrogations, crime detection, domestic violence, and others.Recognized as an expert court witness.
Received numerous awards during my police career for expert investigations. Handled the most sensitive and confidential investigations. In 1999 I won an award for my work with high school students while working in my new career in a large suburban high school.
Expert: Jack Toomey Date: 5/11/2008 Subject: Police sniper
Question QUESTION: I am 18 years old and would like to be a police officer for one year and then become a police sniper for SWAT team, I live in CT, and have a vision of 20/400 uncorrected, and 20/20 corrected, can you sugjest any large departments that I can join with that vision, or if you dont know the vision requirments off the top of your head can you just name some departments that maby I can join in becomeing a "police sniper"/SWAT member. Thanks allot!
ANSWER: Clay,
It is not my function to keep track of police departments and know who they accept and who they dont. Each department in this country has its own hiring standards and one of the first things that they do is a physical to weed out the people who don't qualify. The only department that I know about is MY department and the decisions on eyesight are made by doctors and not by police officers.
Now on to your goal of becoming a a SWAT team member. The first thing that you need to know is that you are a police officer for the entire time that you are on the department. A detective is a police officer, a SWAT team member is a police officer, and a crime scene search officer is a police officer. Secondly SWAT, in real life, is nothing close to what you see on tv. Thirdly you would never be considered for a position in SWAT after one year. You will spend many years on the street as a uniformed police officer before you would ever be eligible or be considered for SWAT. It is also not the best idea to have a narrow goal such as "sniper" since each department might have one or two such positions on their teams. So if you are on a department with a thousand officers that would mean that you are battleing tremendous odds.
What you need to do now is graduate from high school if you haven't already. Go on to college, get good grades, stay in good physical condition, have a spotless criminal and traffic record, and don't abuse alcohol and of course stay away from drugs. When it is time for your background investigation in three years all of that will be considered and if you have a bad record then you won't be hired.
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QUESTION: Thanks for the info it really got my head clear, but, I don't really want to go to college, and I would join the military for those 3 years of waiting but my uncorrected vision is to bad (20/400) so, do you know if theres any police academy I can go into before I become a cop? Thanks!
Answer Can I give you some advice? Forget about being a sniper. If any department hears that being a sniper is your goal then you will be disqualified almost immediately. Why? Because it sends a message that you want to kill people. The average police officer, including SWAT team members, NEVER fire their gun once in their entire career. I am sure that you are being mislead by what you see on tv or in the movies where it seems like SWAT is constantly on the go doing dangerous things everyday. In reality it is mostly sitting around, working patrol, and serving warrants.
You don't want to go to college? How do you expect to get hired then? Do you think that they are going to consider a person with only a high school diploma? Maybe some forty man department in a small town but certainly not a prestigous department such as a county or large city department. They all require college.
I think that you have it backwards. You don't go to the police academy before you are hired. You are hired, after a long background check, polygraph, oral interviews, more interviews, apptitude tests, physical exam, and then you attend the academy.
