is it a bad time to try to get a career in law enforcement?
Asked by Jon J
i keep reading about the economy and about the government cuts, and i keep hearing about a lot of departments laying off many officers/deputies especially here in california, so i was wondering, is it a really bad time for somebody to try to get into law enforcement? i mean if they are laying off that many people and cutting budgets as much as they are, they certainly could not be hiring anytime soon. i am about to go into the police academy, but i am getting really nervous that i am gonna do that and get out and there will be no jobs available anywhere

Best Answer:
I think it will be an issue. California has irresponsibly run up a huge budget deficit. A major reason is because of the huge burden of public employees with their guaranteed benefits that you rarely see in the private sector. You have some corrections officers, with no college, gaming the system making 300K with overtime. I have been following the City of La Jolla, CA bankruptcy and I think it epitomizes the problem of California. The City filed bankruptcy because the police and firefighters salaries, pensions, healthcare were taking up 80% of the budget. I mean these guys got benefits that no one with a real job gets, like guaranteed healthcare coverage for the police and their families for life after a measly 5 yrs of service. The police and their union bullied the City and tried to stop them in court from receiving bankruptcy protection, in bankruptcy the City could break the onerous union contracts. The police union just comes across as a big tick or vampire sucking the City dry. The unions are complaining and some police and firefighters have quit. They interviewed some idiot fire official that said people were getting mad because the firefighters were getting paid twice as much as usual. He said that because some firefighters had left other firefighters had to cover for them and received a lot of overtime. I could not believe he said it, but he said something like the following, I guess for people to feel sorry for these firefighters, "We had guys that had tickets to go to Hawaii for vacation, and they had to cancel their trip to cover for the firefighters that left." This fire officer is in fantasy land with CA leading the nation in foreclosures and high unemployment rates, do you really think people care if some firefighter misses Hawaii this year. No wonder California is an economic mess and Arnold the Republican Governer is asking for federal bail outs for his bloated state government instead of matching spending with the decreased tax revenue. I guess the Republican ideals of free markets, independence, and responsibility goes down the toilet when things go bad. So yes I think you should worry. I think for unions it is about seniority. First hired, first fired. California is a disgrace.