Top 5 mistakes new police officers make

The first few years as a police officer set the stage for the rest of your career. You need to make the decision early if you want be a push over or if you will be a stand out officer. Here are some mistakes we see new cops make that turn them into the push over.

Not buying an expensive new home

Face it the housing market is still depressed, making this a buyer’s market. So as soon as you have your first paychecks buy a house. Get a nice brand new expensive house. This way you will not have to worry about moving if/when you start a family in a few years. Owning is much better then renting.

In addition when you buy a home you show the department administration you are committed to the city. When you drop the hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a home you show your chief you plan to stay. Thus putting you in line for promotions.

Trusting their FTO to be always right

When you start as an officer you will be assigned to a Field Training Officer, FTO. This FTO is some old has been that was passed over for sergeant multiple times now. Don’t listen to him. He is pissed off and has a chip on his shoulder.

You just got out of the academy. You know this job. Your FTO is likely so out of date on modern policing I bet he carries a revolver and not a semi auto for a handgun. Don’t trust him. All he wants to do is turn you in to a malcontent just like him and all the other older cops are.

Believing they can be replaced easy

Supervisors love to talk about the “eligibility list”. They will tell you if you are unhappy go and quit. Before you are gone they will be calling the next name on the list and have you replaced.

Except they forget. That list is months old by now. All the people on that list have jobs at some other department.

Even if they do hire someone it is unlikely that person will be the same size as you. Meaning the department needs to buy all new uniforms, vest, and equipment. Add in the cost of basic training and that makes replacing you, tens of thousands of dollars. Chiefs do not want that cost. So guess what replacing you is not as easy as the sergeant says it is.

Accepting the BS that comes with the seniority system

I bet you got told you have to work midnight shift, and weekends, and holidays because the senior officers bid to be off. Tell them to get bent. Modern employment laws negate all seniority BS found in union contracts. The union leaves it in there just to see if the dumb new guy will follow along.

Tell the old farts you know Federal fair labor act principles. Explain the requirement for an equal and fair division of labor. This includes the equality on scheduling and assignments. If they fail to be fair it is a form of discrimination based on age and/or experience, violations of Federal laws.

Treating dispatchers with respect

Dispatchers, that voice on the radio telling you to go to all your calls. Problem is they like to give the old guys a pass while they send the new guys on all the calls. This does have to do with the seniority stuff above.

So if you don’t want to go from barking dog call to barking dog call tell dispatch off. Let them know you are busy and they need to find someone else to hassle with that lame call. Better yet start running traffic stop after traffic stop. Flood dispatch with radio and MDC traffic so they don’t have time to think. You show a dispatcher you will not let them bully you and you will gain their respect.

So these were five issues we notice. In the comments below feel free to add to our list