Careers: Police/Military Police

Advertisement

Expert: Eric Potts - 9/17/2008


Question
I am 17 years old and i have a long term goal of becoming a police officer. I am checking all my possible options in achieving my goal. I am looking for somer personal opinions on what would be the best path to take in order to become a police officer, whether it be 4 years of college or the military to a combination of both. What would be the best path to take?

Answer
Sean,

The choice is yours, either path is a good choice. Personally, I went into the Army, becamse an MP, got out and became a Police Officer, attending college afterward.

Most Officers now attend College and become Police Officers, I rarely see people coming out of the service and onto the job. It happens, but it seems less and less frequent in our department.

Careers: Police

All Answers

Answers by Expert:

Ask Experts

Volunteer

Eric Potts

Expertise

I am a Veteran of The United States Army where I served as a Military Police Officer for 6 years and have been a Municipal Police Officer for 20 years. I am a certified Arson Investigator, as well as a certified Community Police Officer. I am a DARE teacher in the local schools. I am a Defensive Driving Instructor and worked for years as a Detective specializing in White Collar Crime. I'm qualified to answer general law enforcement questions, general procedure questions (all departments have different rules and regulations. I can answer questions about how to become a law enforcement officer, and questions that might help someone understand why an officer acted a certain way. I am also a Police Suicide Awareness trainer and a member of the NJ Critical Incident Response Team. PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME ANY QUESTIONS PERTAINING TO SWAT-I AM NOT QUALIFIED TO ANSWER THEM AND WILL REJECT THOSE QUESTIONS.

Experience

I have 27 years total Law Enforcement experience in a wide range of areas. I have worked as a Detective and a Patrolman and have made well over 2,000 arrests in my career.

Education/Credentials
Graduated from the United States Army Military Police School Basic Law Enforcement Training Arson Investigators School DARE Officer Training Interview and Interrogation School Police Suicide and Awareness Trainer

©2012 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.