My son is 17 and wants to be a police officer. Since he is too young to join the force at this time and has never been one for academics in school, he thought he might join the National Guard after high school rather than go to college. We know that many police forces require a certain level of education but will give priority to and/or accept military service in lieu of education. Is the Guard a good choice for what he wants? He feels they have the kind of training that would benefit him as a cop.
Depends on what state you live in, different police departments have different requirements. For example, in New York to join the NYPD, you must have 60 college credits,but they will give you extra points on the test if you have been in the military. And for SCPD ( Suffolk county police department), which is also in New York you only have to have a high school diploma. So it depends.
That's amazing! Those are the two police departments he was thinking of! We live in Suffolk County. Actually, the NYPD requires 60 college credits OR 2 years in the military with a high school diploma. In Suffolk, they only need a high school diploma, but military service gives extra points as you say. The Suffolk Police Academy is at Suffolk Community College and they offer courses that can be applied to a Criminal Justice Degree. These courses are restricted to police trainees so he can't even take them until he's in the academy.
So this leaves him with what to do until he's 21 if he doesn't want to go to college. I don't know much about the National Guard, but he seems to think that might be a good option.
If he wants a full time job during the in between time he should look into the active duty Army, the National Guard is only part-time unless he chooses to go Active in the guard. You are right about the two years in the army and the HS. diploma, but those two years must be on Active Duty.
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Originally posted by mvking: That's amazing! Those are the two police departments he was thinking of! We live in Suffolk County. Actually, the NYPD requires 60 college credits OR 2 years in the military with a high school diploma. In Suffolk, they only need a high school diploma, but military service gives extra points as you say. The Suffolk Police Academy is at Suffolk Community College and they offer courses that can be applied to a Criminal Justice Degree. These courses are restricted to police trainees so he can't even take them until he's in the academy.
So this leaves him with what to do until he's 21 if he doesn't want to go to college. I don't know much about the National Guard, but he seems to think that might be a good option.
Suffolk County starting salary is near the 50's where NYPD starting pay is still in the 20's
Thanks to Rudy Giuliani...don't get me started.
But for NYPD purposes they only count active duty time. Join the Military for Four Years..get College money, veteran's benefits, job, training, serve his country.
Have him do what every other national guard soldier does...enlist, go to the academy/firefighter/corrections/mailman and then get deployed and double-dip. (get paid from state job and military while overseas)
Thanks for the advice. I'll check into these things. And you're right, the NYC police do not get paid nearly enough for what they do. It sometimes makes you wonder why anyone wants to be a cop. But I look at my son and see a special kind of person, much like many American soldiers who really want to make life a little safer.
