Expert: Jason Grabill - 2/28/2009

Question
QUESTION: My son really wants to go into law enforcement but is color blind.  What other careers are there in law enforcement that don't require perfect color vision?  My son is being tested (again) for color blindness and I want to be prepared and give him other options if he finds out he can't be a police officer.

ANSWER: Donna:

 I'm not sure where that comes from...any police department I've been associated with has never cared about being colorblind.  As long as you can see 20/20 corrected, that's all most agencies are concerned with.  If this is a certain agency saying this, try another one that doesn't have that requirement.

Jason

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Jason,  Thanks for your response.  My son wants to be a game warden in California.  However, I think at this point he would go to other states if need be because of color blindness.  We have been talking to Game Warden supervisor and he is the one who told us to call Doctor who does test for people who want to be peace officer.  The Doctor was pretty adamant about test requirements along with the supervisor who said if your colorblind you can forget this profession.  My son  will be devastated when he hears this news. My son wants to go to Butte College which is north of Sacramento, it is a good college and has good programs but requires testing including for color blindness.  Have you heard that other States might be different and not so restrictive as California is?

Answer
Donna:

 Interesting. I did some research on my own and discovered, sadly, that many states do in fact have a requirement of "Normal color vision", at least at the state level.  However, at the lower, local level, there are agencies that do not require this.  It's also going to depend on the level of his color blindness.  Certain kinds of CB may not be totally disqualifying.  This is likely going to require some research and digging on his part to find out what states allow this, and what do not.  I'm sorry I couldn't be of more assistance in this area for you and him.

Jason