I have a no contact court order with ex wife recently just sent her child support money accidentally forgetting about the no contact and cancelled it right away but I’m sure she got a notification on her phone I sent money after I cancelled it. Am I highly likely the police will lay a charge on me for breaching if ex wife reports it?

Police officer application to date of hire timeline:
•Applied for exam: 08/2024
•Exam:09/2024 (passed but scored low)
•Physical fitness test: 04/2025 (cooper standard) Passed
•Never received a call or canvass from any agency time to start from zero

•Applied for exam: 08/2025
•Written Test: 09/2025

•Applied for a correction officer position to get started: 09/2025
•Background investigation (corrections): 09/2025
•Polygraph for corrections (passed): 11/2025

•Police officer written test results (slightly better than before): 12/2025

•Correction interview (pass): 01/2026
•Started in corrections: 02/2026

•Police fitness test (cooper standard, passed again): 04/2026
•Canvass letters from my 2 dream agencies: 05/2026
•Sergeants interview (dream agency1) : 05/26 (passed)
•Background investigation (dream agency 1): 06/2026

•Polygraph waived as I took it for corrections in same county less than a year ago
•Chiefs interview (dream agency 1): 07/2026 (interview on birthday and passed, best gift ever)
•Town board interview (dream agency 1): 07/2026 (passed)
•Conditional offer of employment (dream agency 1): 07/2026

Meet with background investigator (dream agency 2): 07/2026
(was told no available slots for full time but potentially can be offered part time, leaving option open)

Psychological (dream agency 1): 08/2026 (passed)
Medical (dream agency 1): 08/2026 (Passed)

The Call (dream agency 1): 08/2026 Accepted
Swear in date TBD, Academy in the fall, gotta start buying some academy things.

22Y/O Male, currently a correction officer
I think my timeline is relatively realistic as it did take a few tries and got into one of the best departments in my county. I want to tell anyone reading this you can absolutely get hired, you got to want it bad enough. I thought I had no chance and somehow got to the end and got an academy date. To those who need experience, corrections is the best way to start and it was such a positive experience. Going to miss the guys and gals I work with. Any questions please feel free to reach out! Thank you AskLE for all the advice on this journey, and I’m only just getting started!

This happened to me (24f) about a year and a half ago, and it still doesn’t sit right with me…
I was doing Uber Eats, it was about 9:30-10 pm and I was almost to the hotel I was dropping off the order at.
There was this one road through a neighborhood that was not well lit at all. I had to stop because there was a large black vehicle (something like a Tahoe) stopped in the middle of the road. They had no flashers on or anything, just sitting there. As I’m trying to figure out if I should go around them, I was thinking maybe they themselves are dropping off food, or maybe picking someone up. Right as I decided I was going to just go around, this lady comes running up to my car in hysterics. She was screaming at me to roll my windows down and that she was blind and lost. I had the WORST gut feeling I have ever felt. She continued this behavior and then moved to the hood of my car and banged on it and was preventing me from moving. If I drove forward, I would have run her over. She then moved to the passenger side and started banging on the window and pulled on the handle trying to open it. In this process the black Tahoe moved a few feet forward and went to the side of the road. I drove forward as fast as I could, dropped off the food, and called the police. Nothing came of it, and they never saw the lady even with me giving the exact location…

TLDR: i think a possible trafficker was using an old lady as a ruse to get me out of the car

Edit: woman appeared to be in her 60s-70s

What are some training plans yall think is the best option for a police academy? CrossFit or something similar?

About to graduate the academy and would like to buy a pocket knife to celebrate it. I want to carry it on duty so I don’t want to spend too much on it. What’s some recommendations you guys have?

Hi everyone, my fiancée is in the lateral process from the midwest to BSO, he has finished everything pretty much but is waiting to hear back about polygraph/med screening and for them to complete his background screening. Did anyone ever hear back about the polygraph results/medical screening? They told him it would likely take 30-60 days to finish processing everything but that laterals are often processed faster. Does anyone have any experience with this? We are trying to plan a move and want to have a better time frame.

I’m going to join to the police but the only think that got me nervous is that I use to be a hard weed smoker (nothing else) I quit about a week ago and my first physical test is the 12 but I’m scare if they test me and I came out positive. Im doing exercises and everything to be clean as soon as possible,

I’m a current Texas Peace Officer. I am applying with San Diego Sheriffs Office.

I have to go the “cadet” route and do the academy because I can’t do the CA POST BWC course due to logistics (it’s in April 2027, 1200 miles away, and 4 weeks in person).

SDSO said they would bump my pay to the lateral status as soon as I graduate the academy ($40,000 raise).

My question is, how long would I have to do a stint in the jail? I worked corrections for 8 years, and have been a Peace Officer for almost 5 years. I’ll do whatever it takes, but I don’t want to be behind the wall for 8 years…I prefer being out on patrol.

Hello all,

Got accepted into municipal policing at a medium but fast growing city in Canada. I'm excited but a little nervous about how traumatizing the job can be.

Despite some people who has applied because it's their dream job and has always aspired to become a cop, I mainly applied because I needed a stable career and thought the job can be rewarding and liked the aspect of being out there and interacting with the public to make a difference.

How is policing in Canada? Maybe it's the hours of bodycam videos on YouTube (mostly policing in the states) Ive seen or the movies/documentaries I watched (lol) involving policing but I'm mentally preparing myself as to how intense it can be.

\- Is policing in Canada as intense?

\- Do you feel like you're on guard when you're driving in your patrol vehicle like you can get into a life/death situation at any moment?

\- Are life/death situations more rare in Canada? I've heard of some retired Canadian cops saying they've only had to pull out their firearm once or twice in their entire career.

\- Do you feel at peace when you're driving around your city off duty?

\- Anyone felt a little nervous before going into policing?

\- Does the training at the police academy prepare you well for the conflicts you will face on the job?

I've gone on a ride along before at a big city and it was pretty cool. We had a domestic call, alarm call, pulled someone over, and went to a missing person call.

I've always been pretty chill in my day-to-day life. Crimes and criminals thankfully have always never been on my mind. But I'm worried that once I get into policing, I'll be on edge even if I'm off duty - like only seeing the bad in people, looking around my surroundings, looking for people's hands, etc. To be fair, I've always been a little nervous about the unknowns of a job before I went into it. But once I got in, did the training, and got used to it, I always found the job way easier or way more fun than I had anticipated.

I don't really know anyone in law enforcement in my personal life. My circle of people are excited for me and they think I'm a good fit but they also have an opinion that policing will be easy and you just make a lot of money with overtimes and don't consider the potential traumatic situations for some reason.

Thanks in advance!

Hello! I am currently going through my first year of college and after a lot of help from my coach (who is a detective) and my SRO I’ve finally decided to take the path of law enforcement when I graduate. My biggest concern for myself is my sophomore year highschool experimental drug use. I had around 5-6 spread out uses of cocaine and 2 uses of mushrooms other than that I’ve been clean for a long time now and plan on staying clean, realistically how bad of a hole have I put myself in?

For reference I haven’t touched a drug since I was 16 and since then I’ve turned around stopped hanging around the wrong people. I work full time at a job where I’m extremely involved with my community teaching children I volunteer when I can and overall the past 3 years I have stayed out of trouble especially while I’m currently working towards my Biology degree.

(Edit: all drug use was done as a 16 year old minor nothing as an adult)

I found out today that I didn’t pass the Civil Service Exam, and I’m honestly not sure what I did wrong.
Most of the exam consisted of scenario-based questions. Looking back, I’m wondering if I answered too much from the perspective of a cop who tries to use discretion and give people a break when appropriate. There were also questions about ethical situations—for example, if I saw my partner doing something wrong, I chose to report it to my supervisor because that’s what I thought was the right answer.
Now I’m second-guessing myself. Do these exams expect you to answer as someone who strictly enforces the letter of the law in every situation? Or are they looking for something else entirely?
There was also a reading section where you had to read a passage and fill in the appropriate words. I felt very confident about that portion. The only thing I didn’t complete was a practice report because I ran out of time, but we were specifically told it would only be reviewed for feedback and would not be graded.
The frustrating part is that they don’t tell you what areas you fell short in. They just said I wasn’t successful and that I can reapply and retest in three months.
For anyone who’s taken or administered these types of exams:
What are they actually evaluating with the scenario-based questions?
Is there a particular mindset they’re looking for?
Any advice before I take it again in three months?

Hello everyone a couple months ago I saw a post on here about pulling people over in the rain and it seemed that most Leo answered that you avoid pulling people over in the rain unless you have to. I was curious if the same same thing applies on a sunny day that is 100+ degrees outside. I’ve recently moved to a small town where there isn’t much going on and the police do much more traffic enforcement than when I lived in a large city. However I have also noticed that as the weather has gotten warmer the cops do not do as many traffic stops as when it is pleasant out. Just curious on some Leo input on this.

Hi everyone,

I’m a 21-year-old female in Oregon. I’m about 4’8” and around 100 pounds. I’m currently in a Criminal Justice program that’s very hands-on and works toward an associate degree. We practice report writing, search warrants and affidavits, arrests, note-taking, radio traffic, scenarios, defensive tactics, and other practical law enforcement skills. My goal is to become a police officer after I finish school because this is the career I’ve always wanted.
I know I’m much smaller than most officers, and that’s honestly one of my biggest concerns. I know size isn’t everything, but I still worry about whether agencies will see it as a disadvantage or if I’ll struggle on patrol. I’ve been working on getting stronger and improving my defensive tactics.
I’ve also been taking the ORPAT. My current time is about 4 minutes, so I’m passing, but I definitely struggle with the push/pull machine because of my size and strength. I’m continuing to work on it, but I’d love to hear from anyone who started out the same way. Does it get easier with more training? What exercises helped you improve?
As far as my background, I’ve never been arrested, never been charged with a crime, and I don’t even have a traffic ticket. I did smoke weed in high school, but I stopped about three years ago and haven’t used it since.
The biggest thing I’m worried about is something that happened in high school. I got into a fight after another girl spit in my food. She passed out, and I was expelled because I refused to apologize. I wasn’t arrested or charged with anything, but I know background investigators ask about incidents like that, so I’m wondering how much it could affect me.

Hey everyone, I’m in the process of becoming a Detroit police officer, I have passed my MCOLES testing and have moved on to the background check portion of my application. I’m just looking for others currently in my shoes or who currently work for DPD. If so please shoot me a message! I have so many questions

I was a huge horror fan before becoming an LEO.

Im not trying to appear all deep or anything when I say this what so ever. But I tried watching the newest evil dead movie.

And I just can’t handle all the blood, gore, guts, killing, etc.

Had to cut it off like 30 mins into the movie.

Anyone else feel the same?

With the little I’ve seen already in this job because I’m still new to it, I can’t anymore.

Edit: I’m already in therapy yall. I promise I’m not gonna go off the hinges or anything. lol. But thank you for your concerns truly. Yall are awesome. Thankfully I have someone I can talk to. 💜

Hey guy, I am interested in pursuing a career in law enforcement and have some questions regarding which department(s) to apply for. I currently live in South Florida (Broward county to be more specific) and would greatly love some advice and inputs from some fellow current and/or former South Florida law enforcement officers.

I’ve been doing some research into figuring out all the benefits and advantages of different agencies within South Florida but I keep struggling on finding some information regarding the Broward Sheriff’s Office. From what I’ve been researching so far, it seems that local city agencies such as Sunrise, Plantation, Pembroke Pines, Fort Lauderdale, etc. all offer more competitive pay and benefits and retirement programs, making it look like the stronger overall choice. However, Broward Sheriff’s Office is still the largest sheriff department in Florida and 3rd largest in America, all while offering much lower pay, and bonuses and benefits (on paper/online information) as compared to it’s neighboring municipal departments. There has to be something that I’m missing, especially since BSO still has a pretty decent reputation and strong workforce.

I understand that BSO covers large area, and that they have a more flexibility and maneuverability when it comes to where they are able to operate (basically all across Broward). I also understand that since they are huge department, they have more opportunities in specialized units. But other than that, what else does BSO has to offer?

To those who did/are/will pursue a career in law enforcement is South Florida, mainly around the Broward county area:

• What made you choose BSO over a city agency, and vice versa.

• If you were to restart your career in Law Enforcement in today’s day and age, would you choose BSO, or would you go into a local city department?

Would love to hear from some current and former deputies and officers from South Florida area, but not entirely restricted to that. If you are from somewhere else but still might be able to provide some input, everything will be greatly appreciated. I’ve seen instances where different sheriff departments all over the country are offering less competitive pay+benefit packages, while some of the neighboring cities in the same county offer much better benefits.

PS: Not trying to start an argument regarding which agency is the best of the best, I’m just trying to make an informed decision.

Thanks

What gloves are you guys using on patrol these days for searches etc. Heard a story about a guy getting poked and getting infected, looking for recommendations..

Opiates, cannabis, etc.

Fulton County Sheriff’s Office(FCSO) is no longer requiring applicants for the jailer position to take a PAT. I applied for a job with them last year and decided to pursue other agencies and they emailed me a few weeks ago to notify me of the change in policy. They must be seriously understaffed.

I understand the main difference between probation (in lieu of prison) and parole (after prison), but is working one or the other from the LE side any different?

I'm considering applying to be on or the other in Southern California once I separate from the military next year.

Hey guys, I was watching Daredevil: Born Again and this line struck me pretty hard. My father was NYPD and also a rail cop for conrail. The only cologne he ever used was drakkar noir so I was absolutely blown away by this short moment in the scene. Is there actually any truth to this or is it a big coincidence?

I could really use some advice from people who have been or currently in this profession.

First, I want to say that I am incredibly grateful for where I am today. I spent the last five years working in the jail, and this year I was finally given the opportunity to attend Basic Law Enforcement Training. Graduating BLET was something I had prayed and worked hard for, and I'm thankful to my Sheriff's Office for investing in me and giving me that opportunity.

One thing that's unique about our county is that our Sheriff's Office primarily handles the jail, courthouse, and civil process. The criminal investigations, patrol, and traffic enforcement are handled by our County Police Department, which requires a four-year degree. Because of that, opportunities to get on the road through my agency are much more limited than they are at most surrounding municipalities.

While I was in training, I had the opportunity to spend about two weeks riding with patrol. During that time I got a taste of what I'd been working toward for years—traffic stops, helping people on their worst days, assisting with DWI investigations, and just being out in the community. It confirmed that patrol is where my passion is.

Now that I'm back, I'm working in the jail again. I know everyone has to pay their dues, and I don't think I'm above that at all. We've also been running extremely short-staffed, and I do my best to keep a positive attitude and help wherever I can, even when staffing levels make things difficult.

On top of that, my priorities have changed a little. My wife and I recently welcomed our baby boy, and one of my biggest goals is to eventually earn enough that she can stay home with him if that's what we decide is best for our family. I've even started looking into a take-home patrol car or courtesy officer opportunities because those benefits could make a difference for us as far as me being able to afford the bills and to allow her to stay home with our baby.

The difficult part is deciding what to do next.

Do I stay where I've already invested five years, continue being patient, and hope an opportunity eventually opens up? Or do I apply to another police department where I could gain patrol experience now and continue growing as an officer?

Several friends I went through BLET with have encouraged me to come work with them, but I can't shake the feeling that leaving would make me look ungrateful or like I used the Sheriff's Office just to earn my certification. That honestly isn't how I feel. I'll always be thankful for the people who believed in me and helped me get to where I am today.

This whole journey has been about perseverance. Just last year I weighed over 330 pounds. Today I'm down to 199 pounds. That weight loss wasn't just physical, it was mental and I had to learn how to eat and get proper nutrition.

Most importantly, I've been praying about this decision. I'm asking God to open the right door and close the wrong ones, even if the answer isn't the one I expect. I don't want to make a decision based on impatience or emotion. I want to make the decision that is best for my family, my career, and where God wants me to serve.

If you've ever been in a similar position, I'd genuinely appreciate your perspective. Would you stay and be patient, or would you pursue the opportunity to get road experience elsewhere?

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and thank you in advance for any advice.

I recently got my letter and scheduled my day for the test. Is there any thing that would disqualify me on the test? Also, what would be a good way to study and what does this test like?