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Posted by: JDS

Hi Folks-
I'm moving out to Northern California next month and am hoping to join up with a local police department near the SF Bay area. Does anyone have any experience with or recommend any dept(s) in particular?

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Posted by: PearlOnyx

I know it's not in Northern California, but I have a friend who's just finishing up the academy for the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. He seems to be very happy with the job.

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Posted by: csauce30

Try the San Diego Sheriffs department...great department, and the county really takes care of its employees...I was one. Then made the stupid decision to relocate back to snowy massachusetts. Beautiful city, and lots to do. The departments are all very squared away out there...check it out.

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Posted by: csauce30

Pearl...

Did your buddy get hired as a detentions/court services deputy sheriff cadet, or a patrol deputy cadet? Lots more openings as Detentions deputies, but even as patrol deputy cadets, you have to spend 2 years in the jails upon academy graduation. Where is he living in San Diego? How did he like the academy at miramar? I went there also...good training.

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Posted by: geebo21

Hey Guys!
Does anyone know if California takes Mass full-time certification. I'm thinking relocating and I was wondering what the procedure is for lateral transfer...Thanks

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Posted by: Irish Wampanoag

Quote:

Originally Posted by geebo21 Hey Guys! Does anyone know if California takes Mass full-time certification. I'm thinking relocating and I was wondering what the procedure is for lateral transfer...Thanks

NO!!!! Like Massachusetts they only honor their own.

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Posted by: Finding Nemo

california dept make you go thru their own academy, your academy is P.O.S.T. certified. (police officer standards and training. ) it's a state wide accreditation.

Oakland pd is a tough area, but a good dept.

San Francisco is a good dept, but there is a different lifestyle of people to deal with..... extremely wealthy, and extremely .

some of the smaller cities around the oakland area pay very well. I had a classmate move back to the oakland area and got hired by his home town, unfortunately that was over 6 years ago and i cannot remember the name of the town. (begins with an m)

Good luck.

there is always the CHP.

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Posted by: Macop

Yes they do take the MA academy, I know cause i have all the information to get certified. I called CA P.O.S.T, it cost a hundred dollars, you get all the information on how to do it on the P.O.S.T web site. I do know L.A does take laterals, but only if you have 2 yrs a CA Police Officer. You will have to go to thier academy otherwise. Most PDs out ther have diff entry levels, Recruit, academy graduate with no experience and Lateral. I know of some PDs that hire at all three levels and some don't. Here is the key none of them hire you and send to be certifed for lateral, You have to go to P.O.S.T and get certified then apply. I was told that by a SGT on the Santa Monica P.D. He said most of the PDs in CA operate that way. I'm sure CHP will make u go to thier academy as well.

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Posted by: Finding Nemo

sorry if i misled you, i know lapd makes you attend their academy, unless bratten changed that. i assumed all calif depts were the same.
anyways, best of luck to you out there, you'll have a blast no matter where you work.

the training on the left coast is 100 times better than mass training, and your tactics training will be top notch.

be safe, good luck!

David Alpers

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Posted by: John J

This is an excellent Northern CA department. I have a friend on the dept who absolutly loves the job. They are currently hiring. I spoke to the recruiter a couple of days ago. They are looking to hire 15 officers in the next 4-5 months.


Applications for any of the following positions may be obtained by contacting Sgt Steve Hoesing at (800) 994-SCPD Outside of California call (40 615-4887 or send an email to scpdrecruiting@ci.santa-clara.ca.us. An online employment application is also available.


Police Officers
Monthly salary range: $6782, $7085, $7440, $7813, $8203.
Longevity Pay Scale: $8408 - $8613

Recruit Police Officers
Academy monthly salary: $5,496

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Posted by: PearlOnyx

My friend got hired as a Patrol Deputy Recruit. They were in the academy during the Super Bowl, and did some security work that night. I'm personally job hunting in Florida. California is a little to far off for me.

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Posted by: Macop

Pealonyx Try Broward County Shherrif. I have a freind there aho says good things aboutit, and they hire alot and you can go down and do everything in a week. You get certified get your feet wet and then go one of more prodominate agencies. I have started the process laready.

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Posted by: Thimios315

I heard the same about Broward County S.O. I know a Billerca P.O. who

worked there. If you want to be busy, it's a good place. I think they are

one of the highest paid too if, I am not mistaken. He told me that just

about every shift at the start he'd have like a dozen calls waiting for him

on the MDT......

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Posted by: 2-Delta

Florida Highway Patrol is holding open app's if that's interesting to you.

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Posted by: sdb29

But back to the Bay Area in San Francisco- I lived out there in 1996-1997, and offer the following:

San Jose Police Dept. was starting at 65k back then- that's right, 65k. Lots of openings at the time, and opportunities for special assignments.

Santa Clara County Sheriff's Dept- You start in Detention and spend some time there before you can bid on the road. Real diverse county with large cities and small towns. A little bit of everything

Fremont Police Dept. Fremont had 175k people when I lived there, up over 205K now. Brand new police facility, pay is comparable to other dept's in the area. Excellent bennies and contract. They have Community Service Officers (CSO's) who are non sworn and take a lot of the junk calls (abandoned autos, illegally parked autos, barking dogs, etc.)

Richmond PD- Very urban. Kind of like working in Brockton. They accept laterals from MA. An minimum AA degree is required.

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Police. Similar to T police in their mission. Very squared away Dept.

Lots of guys do 20 years with the bigger urban Depts like SF or SJ and retire with a 50% pension at age 42 or 43, and then go to work full time for a rural county sheriff's office like Stanislaus County.

Stay away from East Palo Alto PD. This city was formed about 10 years ago, and there's lot's of problems within the Dept. Also avoid Union City and Heyward.

The City of Sunnyvale has a Public Safety Dept where police and fire are combined into one dept., and you have to cross train between the two fields. While you are a PSO (Public Safety Officer) You rotate regularly between the police and fire sides, and while you are on the police side you keep your helmet and turnout coat in the trunk of your cruiser in case of a big fire. I think that as you start taking promotional exams you can then specialize in one field or the other.

You should look at the California POST (Peace Officer Standards & Training) www.post.ca.gov/ for information on the "Basic Course Waiver Process" (laterals) as well as current job openings

Also remember that while the pays sound high, the cost of living is as well. You won't find a house for under $500k, and the apt that I was renting for $1200 a month back then is now renting for $1950. Gas prices are insane. It's a beautiful area with lots of things to see and do, but 3 million other people are trying to see and do the same things as you on freeways that make the Southeast Expressway look state of art.

JDS I hope some of this is helpful. If you have any specific questions send me a message.

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Posted by: PearlOnyx

Currently, I have applied to Florida Highway Patrol and Kissimmee PD. I'm waiting on a phone call, to send my application off to Orange County. Broward seems to be where alot of people want to go. Unfortunatley, I'm not going to bother to apply because they have a swim test to get in, and I can't swim five feet.

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Posted by: futureMSP

Back to California depts., I have a professor who was a police officer in Oakland. He still knows many guys there and says the pay was good then and really good know. He makes it seem like a real good department and it has a lot of action. But just like most other professors he does have more stories than a bookstore

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Posted by: John J

Does anybody have any info about San Diego PD? I am considering taking their next exam.

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