Union,
What do you mean by lateral onto a police civil service job? As far as time in service for retirement, yes your time from the DOC would carry, I think you would have to buy it back though. I'm only in my twenties, so I don't know a hell of alot about retirement. If your talking about actually getting onto a police department, then no. DOC is a corrections academy, and has not much of anything to do with police work. So your training is no good. Also, it's a different test, so that doesn't help you either. If working for the DOC, you would have to take the Police Civil Service exam, and go through the process just like the guy who works at the bodega down the street. DOC can't transfer to police jobs, just like the guy who paints fire hydrants for the city of Boston, can't transfer to a police job. It's all civil service status, but it just wouldn't make sense for it to work that way. Best applicant for the job, that's why we have separate tests for different classifications. Hope that helps.