|
Another piece of advice - see if the department you are testing for offers ridealongs. If so, go do one and ride the entire shift. This will give you a snapshot of what it is like.
It isn't like COPS. They NEVER show the mountain of paperwork associated with all the stuff they do on there. Reports, evidence, another associated report or two, waiting on tow trucks... getting something kicked back by your supervisor because it isn't correct and having to redo a portion of it... Property and evidence rejecting your packaging because you forgot to write something in or something similar. Thankfully, I'm a supervisor now so I don't have to deal with the preparation as much as the review of it.
Sometimes one good felony arrest will eat your entire shift but that heavily depends on the department's policies and procedures.
One thing I learned about COPS - they were here this summer and they will ask the officers to re-enact certain parts (obviously not the parts with the suspects and/or arrests on camera) so it looks better on camera.
In my academy, if one of us messed up, we all paid for it. I remember getting smoked because someone didn't bring athletic shoes when we all were told to do so the day before. We had to PT relentlessly in our uniforms and were not allowed to dress out in our PT gear. Then we sat around the rest of our day in our uniforms all hot and sticky.
|