5 ms·
> you already needed to be doing it for some reason more than just money. This just isn't true. It is a good, steady, well paying job with great benefits, _lot
by ethagnawl 5y ago
> you already needed to be doing it for some reason more than just money.
This just isn't true. It is a good, steady, well paying job with great benefits, _lots_ of overtime, a union that will fall over itself to protect you and (often) the ability to retire after ~20 years with ~50% pay.
I personally know people who've chosen to "grin and bear it" and go down that path for these exact reasons. From a purely objective standpoint, I also sometimes wonder if maybe they made a better life choice than I did: If I'd chosen that route, I'd be retiring with a pension in about three years.
- rootusrootus 5y agoI could have gotten the same by staying in the military 20 years, without the headache that comes with being a cop. At least where I live, you need (or needed, it could have recently changed) a bachelor's degree to become a police officer, and it pays 53K per year. It doesn't seem like a great gig to me, at least financially.
- ethagnawl 5y ago> It doesn't seem like a great gig to me, at least financially. To each their own, of course, but compared to minimum wage or slightly more in retail/pumping gas/whatever, I could see how $53K (to start; before overtime) could be pretty compelling. Also, FWIW, it looks like Connecticut and New York (my points of reference) do not require a bachelors degree -- only a HS diploma or GED.
- rootusrootus 5y agoYeah, the bachelor's degree requirement used to be really common, but I believe a lot of departments dropped the requirement to increase the number of eligible people. Just checked our local department and it looks like they've dropped the education requirement to an associates degree (and they provide for some equivalents, like military service, to get around that).