Why Become a Law Enforcement Officer?
Just read the testimonials below... A career in Law Enforcement can be the
most rewarding career out there, where you can really make a difference for
the good of society and our country.
My name is Ballard Bullion. I was an Officer for 39 years. 34 years as a
detective, detective supervisor or detective manager. There was never a day
that I did not look forward to going to work.
Police work is what the Officer makes it. There are some officers who just
want to get by. They do only what is necessary. They complain about being
burned out after few years. My career was one of learning and challenges.
I was always trying to do better. I attended over 120 different police related schools. I obtained my AA degree.
I met with officers in all of the western 14 states and traveled all over
the country. I joined the FOP and became friends with officers all across
America. I had many mentors and instructed many rookies. It was a worthwhile
and fulfilling career. I am glad that I chose it.
Retired Detective and Manager Ballard Bullion,
Hi, My name is Brent Mc Dowell,I am 36 years old & I work for the Princeton
Police Department in Princeton Ky. When you raise your right hand & take the
oath that you will uphold the laws of the land to the best of your ability
that means something. I might have taken it to heart but I really believe I
can make a difference. No I can not change the world but I can do what I can
to make the community a better place & safer. I am a K-9 officer & my partner
is 10 years old & we love going to work everyday. Cesar is my K-9 & we enjoy
getting drugs off the street or a DUI. They say that every DUI you get you
save the lives of 4 people so if I can save 4 people by taking the drunk or
the drug addict off the street, then I feel I am doing my job and I can sleep
well when I go home. After my shift I ask myself if I did everything I could
to make the community safer. If the streets if the answer is yes, then I did
my best and I did my job. Alcohol and drugs represents 90% of the problems in
most domestic violence disputes. As things get worse in the United States
there is going to be the need for more Police Officers. No one wants to hear
from the police until they need you, so the job is something you must enjoy.
But once it has bitten you you can not get enough of it and it will stay with
you as long as you live.
I enjoy everyday that I go to work & never regret the day that I started. It
is not the money that makes me go to work or the hours that I work just the
satisfaction of doing my job to the best of my ability and taking drunks and
drugs off the street. It is a great job and just think what the US would be
without Police.
K9 Officer Brent Mc Dowell
Princeton KY Police Department
I have been working for the City of Long Beach as a security officer for the
past seven years. I started as a part-time officer (worked for a division of
the Long Beach Police Department) for three years and transferred and became
a full-time Harbor Patrol Officer for the Port of Long Beach four years ago.
Working in public service is the most full-filling job/career I could ever
imagine! It is most important for me to make a difference, contribute and
participate. I have been able to do all of these things as a Harbor Patrol
Officer. I get great satisfaction from just helping people, say a lost
motorist, or someone whose facility has been burglarized or assisting a
tenant of port.
I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth, but I was able to grow up
with many opportunities many others have not. I was able to go to good schools,
and continue with many other opportunities. I worked in the broadcast and
entertainment industry, but it just didn't satisfy my soul. I was told when I
was in my twenties by a dear friend of mine who was a police officer and my
mentor, "they are K-9's, not seeing eye dogs". My vision in the early '70's
prevented from pursuing a career in Public service that I really longed to
participate and contribute. But in 1994, when I became a dispatcher, I knew I
had finally made my goal of working for the public.
I feel that my bosses are not those who manage and supervise me, but the
taxpayers and the tenants of the Port of Long Beach. I must answer to these
people. I am a representative, an ambassador for the City of Long Beach, Port
of Long Beach, and for my department. I do my best to present a positive
image of my department, my Port and my city! I am proud to wear my uniform.
These last few weeks have made me ever so proud to keep the Port of Long Beach
safe and secure, and to be a public servant. I love what I do and have never been
so happy as to serve my fellow man. I would rather do this job, have this career
than work on any motion picture any day! God bless all of us who work in Public
Service, whether it be as a police officer, firefighter, EMT, or Military
personnel. God Bless America!
Peggy Sellers
Lakewood, California
My name is Robert (Bob) Erskine and I spent 33 years in policing. I was a member
of the Ontario Provincial Police in Ontario, Canada and retired as a Staff Sergeant
Detachment Commander. In Ontario, that position is the equivalent of a chief of
Police. The O.P.P. is responsible for rural policing in Ontario as well as
patrolling the controlled access highways. I spent about 12 years in traffic and
special details then went into general policing as a supervisor. I then was put
in charge of a small municipal detachment. The greatest thing about policing is
the contact with people and the feeling that you can make a difference. It's all
about helping folks and being there for them when needed.
Sometimes it isn't too pleasant as in body recovery, suicides, homicides, fatal
mva's etc. but whatever it is that you do you make a difference to someone or help
someone and that is the reward. Policing is not a job, it is a lifestyle. You
live what you do. The most important thing is to keep safe and keep healthy. I
now teach aspiring police officers and my reward is seeing them succeed in being
hired by a police service. I only hope that what I have learned and passed on will
be of value to them and keep them safe and healthy. When you have faced horrendous
things, sad things, disturbing things, its ok to feel and talk to someone about them
and recognize those feelings. Don't keep
them to yourself or you won't last.
Have a safe and rewarding career. There is no job like it!!
Ret. Staff Sergeant Detachment Commander, Bob Erskine
Ontario, CA
My name is Steve Kimbel and I have been in law enforcement for ten years. For the
past 3 1/2 years I have worked with the Madison Co. Sheriff's Dept. in Georgia. My
entire time in police work has been as a patrol officer/deputy.
I, like many others, grew up wanting to be a police officer. I enjoy law enforcement
for many reasons and I take great pride in my job. Even though the pay is not the
greatest, I would still recommend this job to anyone who is considering this line of
work. Reasons would be it is an exciting job that is never the same. Every day is
something different. Even though you make more people angry than happy, it is that
feeling you get when you know you have helped someone out that really makes you feel
good. You won't make a difference, for the good, in most people's lives, but when you
can change one person it is worth it.
One of the greatest feeling of pride came over me just last week. It happened in my
Church when the pastor decided to recognize all civil service workers as a result of
the tragedy in New York and Washington. All of us were asked to stand and as we did
we were given a standing ovation. I had never felt more honored to be a police
officer than that day. But while standing there in tears I could only think of the
firemen and police officers in New York, who I wished I could have been with helping
them in there time of need.
MAY GOD BLESS THEM!
Patrol Officer, Steve Kimbel
Madison County Sheriff's Dept., Georgia
I was ten years old when I knew just what I wanted to be. I wanted to be a Police
Officer just like the guys I watched on TV. I grew up three blocks from my local
police station and watched the guys come and go as I played basketball near by. I
started out in my career thinking I was going to really be the cop that would kick
some butt and make the criminals change their ways. But I have found that you need to
have compassion and be willing to go the extra mile to help people. Many kids are
very much impacted by the police and I have made it a point to go out of my way to
show them we are truely the good guys. When you see them the next time, they say to
their parents that is the policeman! I have also found it very important to do
everything possible to help parents whose teenagers have fallen into drug addition.
These parent's need our help and their kids are victims of their own choose. But they
need our help in getting treatment so that we will not see them over and over in the
future. I tell the new officers that I have helped train that you need to have people
skills and have a concern for people. That is the most important thing.
Inv. Ricky Knecht
17 years with Moore Twp. Police Dept.
Sir, this is in regards to why law enforcement has been a rewarding
experience for me. My name is Danilo Castaneda, and I have been with the LA
County Sheriff's Dept (CA), for just a few months. Ive always wanted to go into
law enforcement ever since high school. So, in my last year of college I started
applying. I got hired a few months later and here I am. To me its rewarding
because I feel that I am doing something to protect the community (yes, how
clicheish that is!). I also enjoy the job because of the people I work with. We
all watch each other's backs, we all have the same purpose, we all work towards
keeping each other safe. Its fun work. Yes, it may get rough and dirty sometimes,
but the bottom line is you get to make sure some scumbag murderer, rapist, burglar,
or druggie is getting what he should be getting.
Deputy Danilo Castaneda
LA County Sheriff's Dept.
As a junior in high school I was deciding on what I wanted to do for a living. I
was selected to attend the SC Law Enforcement Police Cadet Academy in 1984 sponsored
by the American Legion. After two weeks of exposure to all facets of law
enforcement I was hooked. I decided on my own that I had to do what was best for
me and enlisted in the Army National Guard as a Military Police Specialist. Where
else can you be trained as a law enforcement officer and carry a weapon at age 18!
By age 20 I went on active duty and stayed in law enforcement until 1996 when after
8 years I was burnt out on street work. It was a rewarding career and my desire to
help those who could not help themselves and help those who had been taken
advantage of was satisfied. I moved into the civilian world but after 2 years of
that I needed to get back behind the badge. I sought a specialty and found a home
in Forensics. Long before CSI became a hit show I was doing the work! Now this
was rewarding! Before, I would put a suspect in for slapping his girl around and
he would be out the next day, or a thief I knew was guilty but could not prove
would get away to do it agein. I could now say I gotcha because I had his
fingerprints inside the house he just burglarized or the car he just stole.
If an individual is looking for a job to kick butt and take names but has no
compassion for the victim then don't get into law enforcement. Yes its good to be
able to apprehend your suspect without much incident, but just when you think you
got him down, he turns on you and kicks your butt. When I started in full time
law enforcement in 1988 it was a career, a profession. For so many young folks I
see getting into it now it's just a job. Law enforcement is different than any
thing else out there. Daily you deal with the threat of death and mayhem but good
training and street smarts keeps you alive. One thing that has kept me safe is a
saying I heard once: "Law enforcement is something you have to want to do, when
you get to where you don't want to do it anymore, get out because you will get
yourself and/or somebody else hurt because your guard is down!"
Christopher B. Bryan
Senior Technician
Greenville County DPS
Forensic Division
I changed careers 24 years ago to join the King County Sheriff's Office based upon
an encounter I had with a then student of mine at a local community college. I
found this individual to not be the stereotype of what a cop was that many of us
thought we knew from the 60's and 70's. Because of him I joined the KCSO Reserves
to see what the job was all about. I later joined fulltime. I haven't regretted
that decision to this day even though this is my last year on the job. What I like
best about the job is the people I work with and around. That is what I'll miss
the most. Those men and women who go out every day and take the flack from a
public that at best takes us for granted. It seems that only in times like these
does the public realizes that what we do is special and takes special people.
When the average person runs from danger they usually pass a cop running towards
it. What I tell each graduating class of recruits is that I hope they're here not
because they need a job but because they're answering a calling. What we do is too
important to be just a job. If you're looking for just a job you need to go away and
find one.
Kinney, Francis
King's County Sheriff's Office
I have been a police officer for going on 16 years now. I have always enjoyed
helping others and trying to hopefully outthink the criminals, and use
inventive and creative ways to beat them at their own game. The main reason I
became so interested in police work is all the men in my family have been in
law enforcement. My father was a ret. Chief, and my grandfather was a
ret. off from the same dept as myself. I have always enjoyed helping others
and trying to make their neighborhoods safer for their children. Although
officers often get into scuffles at domestics, write tickets, and often make
arrests - the public mistakes us as cowboys, or roughnecks but in reality
officers use a lot of restraint and almost always do their job with the
highest ethical standards. I am SGT. and work with a great group of officers,
who I'm always proud to say do an excellent, professional job. Too often
they get little or no recognition for the great job they do on a daily basis.
Minor infractions are over-exaggerated and the excellent, everyday bravery
and loyalty that they display is overlooked by many. I'm proud to be a law
enforcement officer and hope others are as proud of this great profession as
I am. Never get discouraged and keep up the good work guys and gals.
SGT. M.J.WALDRON
PLAINFIELD P.D. N.J.
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