become a police officer

Well, I’m three weeks into my college courses. Week four starts on Monday. I’m doing well. I have all A’s so far. I know that I have to take all of these basic courses before I can start the real criminal justice classes, but I am anxious for them to start. I know how to write persuasive essays. I know how to make APA format references. I want to get to the MEAT of the classes. Anyway, patience is a virtue, right? Six more weeks of these two classes and then something new starts.

I’ve talked with my husband about my goals and our situation. He hates his job and wants to get a degree and get a better job. I’ve set a goal of being a cop on the force one year from now. That means I’ve got about six months to lose the weight I want to lose and get in shape. I have to start getting my aps out and taking preliminaries. Then the academy. I think it can be done in a year. Especially knowing that I’m already on the payroll for a police department that is looking for new officers. When I get a little more weight off, I’ll go talk to my commander or the chief and let them know my intentions. I get a little more excited about this every day.

I got a call from my enrollment counselor at U of P and I am officially a college student now. I begin classes in one week. All the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed and I’m ready to begin. Also, I have a friend who is a cop in another city nearby and she has invited me to go on ride outs with her and said she’d do anything she can to help me with my goal. I’m going to schedule some ride outs with her and some other officers. I’m also going to try to have ride outs in as many cities as possible (easy to do here in the metroplex) so I can see what police work is like in many different areas. This is exciting.

So, becoming a police officer is still very high on my list. I’ve got 23 things to go to have a list of 43. Either I’m not very motivated, or I have a very full life with little else missing from it. I’m having to think very hard to come up with 43 things without them being silly things that I thought of just to have another thing on my list.

I think I’m finally through the longer-than-necessary process of applying for college online and applying for student aid. It’s just a matter now of waiting for my start date and for the student aid to be approved. I’m looking forward to having something new in my life to focus on. I love to learn, so this is exciting for me. Here I go.

Well, today I enrolled at University of Phoenix for an online degree program to get an associate’s degree in criminal justice. If everything goes through without any problems, I’ll be starting classes online on Feb. 26. This is exciting and scary at the same time. When I think about how old I am already, and then add 20 months for a degree, I will be 34 or older before I go to police academy. Scary!

I’ve always been fascinated with true crime stories, figuring out the answer to things, and I’ve always liked helping others. I work for the PD in my small city now, but as a civilian officer (school crossing guard). I get so frustrated when I see people just blatantly disregard the law and the safety of children and all I can do about it is…well, nothing. I can report the person, send in their license plate, and that’s about it. I also get yelled at and attacked alot because people think I’m just some schmoe out there telling other people what to do. They don’t realize I work for the PD. I think, “If I was standing out here in a uniform with a gun on my hip, people would be alot less smarta$$ and alot more respectful and willing to obey the law.” I watch how, every single day, people just ignore the law and it makes me want to do something about it. Superman syndrome, I guess.