In October 1976, I was offered a job as a deputy sheriff-jailer by the department that I had done an internship with that summer. I was still in college, taking a full load in order to graduate. I took the job and juggled my classes around work. Slept in class quite a bit and wound up going another quarter to get my BS in criminal justice degree.
I stayed at the sheriff's office until I realized it would be quite a while to get on patrol. I left there and worked at a prison near Montgomery, Alabama that offered more money. I soon realized that the only difference between guards and inmates was that the guards got to go home after their shifts. I had taken the civil service test in Jefferson County, Alabama and was offered a job by a small city in the Birmingham area. I left the prison after three months.
I wound up staying the police department for the next 23 plus years. I believe I made an arrest for every crime in the Code of Alabama except treason and abuse of a corpse. I responded to or worked an average of 8-10 murders a year during my time there. The money was good, for LE work. I took the Federal civil service test three times and could have gone to Border Patrol, Customs or US Marshals, but I would have had to take a pay cut. Being married with kids kept me at my PD. I should have bitten the bullet and gone Fed, but as always, hindsight is 20/20.
I retired at 25 years and moved back to Virginia. I soon went to Kosovo for two years as an international police officer, followed by a three year stint as a police advisor in Afghanistan. Came back home and soon realized that I couldn't live on a cop's pension, so I took a job working security in a Federal building.
I have been wearing somebody's badge and gun, with only a few breaks, for 40 years now. I'm tired. We have folks working for the security company in their 70s, but I'm not going to be one of them. I'll turn my gear and uniforms in the first week of November.
I'll miss my friends and most of my co-workers and even some of the public.
I'll update this thread as I get closer to pulling the plug.
I stayed at the sheriff's office until I realized it would be quite a while to get on patrol. I left there and worked at a prison near Montgomery, Alabama that offered more money. I soon realized that the only difference between guards and inmates was that the guards got to go home after their shifts. I had taken the civil service test in Jefferson County, Alabama and was offered a job by a small city in the Birmingham area. I left the prison after three months.
I wound up staying the police department for the next 23 plus years. I believe I made an arrest for every crime in the Code of Alabama except treason and abuse of a corpse. I responded to or worked an average of 8-10 murders a year during my time there. The money was good, for LE work. I took the Federal civil service test three times and could have gone to Border Patrol, Customs or US Marshals, but I would have had to take a pay cut. Being married with kids kept me at my PD. I should have bitten the bullet and gone Fed, but as always, hindsight is 20/20.
I retired at 25 years and moved back to Virginia. I soon went to Kosovo for two years as an international police officer, followed by a three year stint as a police advisor in Afghanistan. Came back home and soon realized that I couldn't live on a cop's pension, so I took a job working security in a Federal building.
I have been wearing somebody's badge and gun, with only a few breaks, for 40 years now. I'm tired. We have folks working for the security company in their 70s, but I'm not going to be one of them. I'll turn my gear and uniforms in the first week of November.
I'll miss my friends and most of my co-workers and even some of the public.
I'll update this thread as I get closer to pulling the plug.
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