Potential cop post
Apr. 5th, 2006 03:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zdashamberI'm back hale and well from ACUS. To address the immediate wonderings I fancy ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kittentikka and a2macgeek may hold: I made my flight fine. Even though I got to the ticket counter after the 45-minute cutoff, the Frontier lady was on my side, "Here are the directions to the gate, go! Move as quickly as you can!" This is why Frontier is a good airline, unlike United, may its name moulder in infamy.
ACUS was great fun. Slowly I will work on getting the quotes and report out. In the meantime, there are a couple questions I've been meaning to put to you all.
For today, I'll start with the most dramatic: I'm considering becoming a cop. What are your thoughts on the job, and my potential relation to it?
I'm bored with my current job, having conquered all its challenges a year and a half ago. (Currently, I'm a tech at a research institute, tracking mice for alcoholism studies. This came about because I got a degree in biology with the intention of being a genetic engineer, and then found this job, listed as genetic engineering on mice. And having tried it, it's not really what I want to do.)
The vague plan was to keep the current job, build up money, and use the free off-hours to start a business. No movement has been occurring on that so far, however. Then I came across an article in the paper about how Oakland is frantically scrambling to find and train police officers. Pay while in the academy is listed at $62,245, and then $69,162, rising to $87,172 after three years (or possibly one if they really scramble).
Currently I make about $38,500 (I still need to do taxes, ai!). I have enough to live on and put stuff aside and buy pretty much anything I want. In part this is because I don't want much. I thank all my cheap ancestors. ;) Still, another (guessing) $15,000 a year after taxes could put me on the path to having a down payment for a house in a few years, which would be nice... Then I could pour all my money into things like insulation and roof repairs and shed building. Yeehaw! (Yeah, all of you who don't live in the Bay Area where the median house costs $637,000, laugh it up, furballs...)
As to the job itself, I looked into the details as far as I could find on the web. Looks like the work week is generally 4 consecutive days of 10 hours each. Shifts and patrol areas are chosen in a yearly drawing based on seniority. The FAQ says "days off" are drawn, too... I suppose that means Christmas and Thanksgiving are for the less senior people to work. Hopefully it doesn't mean that I'd have to know all the vacation I was taking a year or more in advance. Mom points out that since the department is understaffed I'd probably be in for mandatory overtime; I wonder if I'd have control over when that was scheduled.
Reasons I'd want to do it: I imagine it'd be different things every day. I'd get to help people and be decent in times of stress. I like driving around. I could nail people for the things I personally find reprehensibly dangerous, like tailgating. I like Oakland, and it'd be nice to give back. If the work environment was welcoming, the congeniality of it sounds appealing. It'd be good fodder for stories, or if I ever wanted to go into politics. I'm already planning to be a rock of prepared stability during a major earthquake or disaster, so the job is sort of a natural for me when it comes to that. Three-day weekends would let me get a ton more done.
Reasons I'd perhaps not want to do it: Largest on the list is the potential for a work environment dominated by macho pinheads. Hopefully in a big diverse liberal-ish city like Oakland that wouldn't be so much a problem. Mary points out that I'd run into crap from the people I'd be arresting regardless of whether the other cops were cool or not. I'd have to get in shape, though that would be good for me anyway. People would always drive slow around my car. My job might alarm people I'd randomly converse with.
I surely have not thought of all the aspects, and you folks are clever and varied. What do you think?
kittentikka and a2macgeek may hold: I made my flight fine. Even though I got to the ticket counter after the 45-minute cutoff, the Frontier lady was on my side, "Here are the directions to the gate, go! Move as quickly as you can!" This is why Frontier is a good airline, unlike United, may its name moulder in infamy.ACUS was great fun. Slowly I will work on getting the quotes and report out. In the meantime, there are a couple questions I've been meaning to put to you all.
For today, I'll start with the most dramatic: I'm considering becoming a cop. What are your thoughts on the job, and my potential relation to it?
I'm bored with my current job, having conquered all its challenges a year and a half ago. (Currently, I'm a tech at a research institute, tracking mice for alcoholism studies. This came about because I got a degree in biology with the intention of being a genetic engineer, and then found this job, listed as genetic engineering on mice. And having tried it, it's not really what I want to do.)
The vague plan was to keep the current job, build up money, and use the free off-hours to start a business. No movement has been occurring on that so far, however. Then I came across an article in the paper about how Oakland is frantically scrambling to find and train police officers. Pay while in the academy is listed at $62,245, and then $69,162, rising to $87,172 after three years (or possibly one if they really scramble).
Currently I make about $38,500 (I still need to do taxes, ai!). I have enough to live on and put stuff aside and buy pretty much anything I want. In part this is because I don't want much. I thank all my cheap ancestors. ;) Still, another (guessing) $15,000 a year after taxes could put me on the path to having a down payment for a house in a few years, which would be nice... Then I could pour all my money into things like insulation and roof repairs and shed building. Yeehaw! (Yeah, all of you who don't live in the Bay Area where the median house costs $637,000, laugh it up, furballs...)
As to the job itself, I looked into the details as far as I could find on the web. Looks like the work week is generally 4 consecutive days of 10 hours each. Shifts and patrol areas are chosen in a yearly drawing based on seniority. The FAQ says "days off" are drawn, too... I suppose that means Christmas and Thanksgiving are for the less senior people to work. Hopefully it doesn't mean that I'd have to know all the vacation I was taking a year or more in advance. Mom points out that since the department is understaffed I'd probably be in for mandatory overtime; I wonder if I'd have control over when that was scheduled.
Reasons I'd want to do it: I imagine it'd be different things every day. I'd get to help people and be decent in times of stress. I like driving around. I could nail people for the things I personally find reprehensibly dangerous, like tailgating. I like Oakland, and it'd be nice to give back. If the work environment was welcoming, the congeniality of it sounds appealing. It'd be good fodder for stories, or if I ever wanted to go into politics. I'm already planning to be a rock of prepared stability during a major earthquake or disaster, so the job is sort of a natural for me when it comes to that. Three-day weekends would let me get a ton more done.
Reasons I'd perhaps not want to do it: Largest on the list is the potential for a work environment dominated by macho pinheads. Hopefully in a big diverse liberal-ish city like Oakland that wouldn't be so much a problem. Mary points out that I'd run into crap from the people I'd be arresting regardless of whether the other cops were cool or not. I'd have to get in shape, though that would be good for me anyway. People would always drive slow around my car. My job might alarm people I'd randomly converse with.
I surely have not thought of all the aspects, and you folks are clever and varied. What do you think?
no subject
Date: 2006-04-05 09:59 pm (UTC)Tai Chi classes that I've seen tend to be solitary sorts of things where you follow along with the instructor, and the aikido classes I've taken have mostly involved slowly practicing one technique with a fellow student for most of the class. Most ass-handing experiences I've had with aikido was when I was a demonstration victim for the sensei. Which usually involved me making a slow motion punch at the sensei followed by a lot of the sensei mopping the floor with me. Often literally, as I would be dragged around with my face on the matt and my arm twisted around like a pretzel. Otherwise it was a very laid back experience. We practiced the maneuver slowly and patiently. There was never any sparring in aikido unless you were in the special "competition" style aikido program. (I can't remember the name.) I've been on the receiving end of some aikido beat downs, so I know it can be effective in the right hands. But the teaching environment I've been exposed to has generally been pretty mellow.
On the other hand, the karate-style classes I've taken have been more like bootcamp. A lot of rigorous exercise and, for more advanced students, sparring. (I've never been an advanced student.) Which seemed like the sort of high-stress training environment you'd want if you wanted to see if you were down with the dealing with crooks lifestyle.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-06 05:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-06 06:41 pm (UTC)