degree Vs no degree Vs police academy?
Hey so im planning on becoming a police officer and am trying to find out if not having my criminal justice degree will i make that much less by not having it and just going to the police academy, which i am supposed to start in march, and was planning on getting my associates degree if it helps im in texas
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you getting a degree will be great for you but will have nothing to do with you becoming a police officer. you will have to thru the same training as someone who has no college at all.
---------------retired texas deputy sheriff---------------
If you are going to a academy forget CJ as a major before. You will get plenty of cj classes that you actually need in the academy and you will also get college credit for stuff you do in the academy. (usually between 21 and 36 semester hours)
Getting paid more depends on the department. Some pay more for bachelors and above, most do not.
Most want or require 60 semester hours of college. They do not care in what.
Having a AA or a bachelors is better than not having one. It really makes no difference what you major is.
If you try to make sense of what you wrote you will see that you will not be any good in report writing. Take some English composition classes and perhaps a few philosophy classes to help your critical thinking skills (a very important skill for all police).
Concentrate on learning in the academy so you pass the TCLOSE.
Good luck finding a job, even if certified.
In the past few months there have been very few to no ads in the police trades for recruits. Those that are hiring have their pick of experienced officers, not raw recruits.
I believe in Texas once certified you have 2 years to get a department to pick up your commission. We can only hope by that time the economy will allow departments to hire again. If not be sure to take you continuing ed courses or when they are ready to hire you will have to do the academy and the TCLOSE test again.
It will help if you get your degree, I am taking cj right now and i was told it will help a lot by my supervisor.