Submitted by LEthrowaway3401 t3_zqx0np in washingtondc
Hey yall I'm a recent grad thinking about starting a career in law enforcement.
I'm interested in working in the DMV area so the MPD seems attractive with their recent monetary recruiting initiatives. (its probably a trap i know....)
I seen quite the mix bag of things while researching but would love to hear any and all accounts or opinions of the department from yall.
Thanks a bunch, cheers
I know nothing about law enforcement other than I don’t really trust law enforcement but I think this sounds like a great route. Nobody will hate you, you’ll be in scary situations but rarely ones where you’re scared OF people (which will scar you forever - speaking as someone who’s best friend is a cop and is all sorts of fucked up), and you’ll be performing an excellent service to the community. And it seems like you’ll do law enforcement in the end, according to this comment. Plus everybody loves a hot firefighter.
If you care to uphold the law and help people / communities, then please do enlist. They need more people who give a fuck.
I wish police had more mental health resources. I care deeply about how seeing the worst of society, at times, can negatively impact someone’s mental health.
I’ve worked closely with MPD. It is not an easy job, the bureaucracy is a lot, many good people but also some not so much.
This is true of all PDs and overall it seems to be better than average as police departments go.
If you want to do LE, seems like as good as any a place to start, unless you want to go federal.
EDIT: by “unless you want to go federal” I just meant that you might want to go directly to a federal agency instead.
Why wouldn't it be a good one if someone wishes to transfer to federal down the line? DC is a federal city and its major crimes are prosecuted in a federal court so it would make sense (I hope!) that MPD would understand the expectations of federal law enforcement vs some podunk suburb city outside of the greater DC metro area where OP would have to commute to.
It isn't bad per se, just that almost everyone in the agency, and surrounding ones, wants to go federal.
It’s not an easy job?
Former cop (Boston area). Worked for MCPD as a dispatcher while going through flight school. MCPD is a solid place to work but you’ll find a lot of terrible attitudes. County govt doesn’t really support MCPD like they should. They’ve really been struggling to hire, might be to your advantage. Take home cruiser is a nice perk. Lots of specialized units if you don’t want to work patrol. Plenty of quiet areas and bullshit calls if you want to be a lazier cop. (Won’t be like that if you work in 3D or 4D; i.e. Wheaton/Silver Spring).
MPD is a more interesting place to work. You will likely be worked harder, deal with more mental illness and the bar scene. Might be less gang activity in DC, PG and Montgomery have more of it. You are going to be dealing with a lot of interagency operations. USSS, WMATA, DHS, FBI, DOJ, NPS and USCP. Great jumping off point if you want to move into the feds, and you’ll meet feds. Meeting feds is how you’ll get a fed job (unless you’re a veteran, then it doesn’t matter so much). MPD is desperate for good people. Don’t fall into the corruption, it’s there. I have seen cops get paid off in cash. It’s tempting, but don’t do it. Be an upstanding cop and MPD is a great place to work and launch your career.
Edit: I have not seen MPD officers take bribes per se. I have see other officers in other jurisdictions do so.
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Don't forget DSS. ;-)
lol just hang out in the sleepy parts of 2D. mostly just car crashes.
You didn't say anything about having worked for MPD.... but you've seen MPD officers take cash bribes?
I have not seen any MPD officers accept cash bribes. This was not clear from context, apologies. I do know that some traffic guys used to run a bit of an extortion racket, of which a family member was a victim, but that was 15 years ago. The post body-cam world has changed things for the better.
You should edit your comment and make it clear... that's a really bad accusation that sure reads like it's about MPD officers and culture at MPD and OP or others may take that into consideration on a career choice.
Done.
If you are looking for serious answers, wont get much help from the reddit community.
This could really apply to any subreddit lol
Or any advice about anything on Reddit in any sub. Someone will contradict
Weightloss is the worst, because someone is going to mention how difficult it is for someone with some outlier condition that doesn’t apply to 98% of the population.
Like I’m sure it doesn’t work for people with those specific conditions, but they aren’t the majority. That doesn’t help the people looking to improve things and only makes them doubt their ability to accomplish a goal that they already feel is super unobtainable.
The people that find it absolutely necessary to play devil’s advocate make everything incredibly difficult, but in their minds they think that they are being helpful for people that are marginalized.
Contradictions should be valued for their insightful nature. Reddit is a forum and challenges peoples assumptions, opinions, or thoughts. How dare you….…total kidding. Totally agree with you! Lol.
You might consider posting this to some sort of law enforcement thread. This sub is often pretty anti-police.
I have no real involvement in LE, but would guess MPD or any city would be much more action then, say, a suburb or rural area. And there are definitely your high crime and low crime areas of the city.
Good luck! The disconnect between police and citizen can only get fixed by well meaning people coming together to fix it.
I’d argue the sub is predominately anti-police policy, and the users within are smart enough to know the people aren’t as terrible as they’re made to seem.
I don't think it's anti-police, many of us think perhaps there are questionable policies and too many bad apple cops with power and anger issues. The police union should be protecting good cops, if necessary but they need to get rid of the bad ones.
But then the unions wouldnt do their job well would they?
This sub can sometimes be knee-jerk anti-cop, but it’s not nearly as irrational as some of the other city subreddits.
Don't go into law enforcement thinking you are gonna make a difference because politics keeps you from doing it. If you like being social and going out rethink law enforcement. Policing really makes you hate being around people and you stop trusting people. 18 years PGPD
>Policing really makes you hate being around people and you stop trusting people.
Don't need to be a cop to gain that kind of insight.
I’m so sorry to hear of your experience. What are some of the issue at play, you have mentioned politics but is there more in your experience. I’ll be the first to admit police often deal with people who do not want them there but they are pivotal to our safety or common law system - bringing people closer to lady justice.
Low morale, not enough officers, no backing from politicians. Everything seems to be ran by the emotions of people on social media rather than what's going on in front of you.
MPD here (7 years), feel free to DM and I can answer any questions
Thank you for your service.
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Cause it’s their job…….. cops been doing to much forever that’s why citizens do this!
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The number of complete morons who think police should not have to do their jobs is truly astounding.
>when you’re just gonna have someone shove a recording phone in your face trying to get you fired? I’d stay on my phone too for little shit like that.
"If someone tries to hold me accountable and wants me to follow the law for doing my job that can end up with that person paying a fine, losing their livelihood, ending up in jail, or being shot dead, that HURTS MY FEELINGS so I'll just suckle on the public teat trying to defend my rank on Clash of Clans."
Guess what, this doesn't make people like cops any more than the ones that shoot people for no reason. If they can't handle accountability, demand their resignation, don't justify that shit.
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Do you think cops that act like this should continue to be on the public payroll, irrespective of your understanding of why they don't want to do their jobs?
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q.e.d.
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buddy you've spent multiple posts in here blaming everyone else but the cops for their behavior of not doing their jobs, pretending you're not justifying it by empathizing with the types of cops who act this way, then claim you don't care if they get paid for their behavior while attacking other people who feel like cops should do some bare minimum of keeping them safe as "pretentious."
It's PAINFULLY obvious where you stand. You good, my dude. We see you.
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If you are looking to become an urban cop / detective or transition into other law enforcement (FBI or Secret Service) then you should do your time at a Major PD like MPD.
If you are looking for something to just pass the decades with, try the Capitol Police. On a per officer basis, they are the highest and best funded police agency in the nation and your days are pretty low stress, save for the once in a generation coup attempt by a President.
If you are looking to both relax and make bank, get a job with the Mountain View CA PD. Absolutely beautiful area. The most stressful thing they do is hand out parking tickets and return lost wallets. They start you out at $130K a year but the average on the force is $170K.
> They start you out at $130K a year but the average on the force is $170K.
How far out would you have to commute to live somewhere with single family homes that are under $1.5 million? $170k a year is not close to the generic recommended salary to afford buying in a housing market that expensive. Unless someone's childless or fine raising kid(s) in a condo.
Most cops in Mountain View with families live in Milpitas or east San Jose which are all a 25 minute drive and (according to Redfin a minute ago) have quite a few of sub 1.2M options. The single cops live in apartments in MountIn View, Palo Alto or Menlo Park. The MV Police agency is so flush they subsidize living expenses for their cops as well.
> The MV Police agency is so flush they subsidize living expenses for their cops as well.
Not surprised to hear that. I can't imagine making that much and still being priced out of owning a detached home in the area, unless you're a dual income household. At least this area has a ton of appealing options out in the suburbs and rural towns that are priced accordingly.
Cap Hill police would be the way to go
Uh - isn’t there great morality issues with this organization right now?
You could always become a reserve if you wanted to look before jumping. But you can do a lot worse than MPD. The only real issue is that there's a bunch of mandatory overtime for protests or events.
Apply for the Secret Service Uniformed Police. You'll make a lot more money.
USSS is a great place to get a foot in with the feds, but don’t stay more than 5 years. Use it as a jumping off point to become a special investigator - FBI, OIG for an agency, etc. Terrible management is well documented. More suicides at USSS than officer names on the LE memorial.
Don’t go CIA, they have a special retirement system that makes it really difficult to leave to go to another agency.
If you want to run and gun, go local. But continue your education so you can go federal after a few years. The pay and retirement is so much better. If you want to keep running and gunning, go be a US Marshal. Not an investigator, though.
Dont forget being a miserable security guard lol
Hey, the respond to crimes on Wisconsin and Mass Avenue in ward 3 and embassy row. there was a shooting at the strip club next to the VP's home and it was mostly SSUP that responded.
They never take the lead on anything in the city unless its the white house or a protection detail. Your not doing what many would consider "police work". They consistently have the lowest morale of any federal agency. If you want to work USSS your better off going 1811 and being an agent. Uniformed division stinks
You should read Rosa Brooks’ Tangled in Blue—very good, balanced insightful read on MPD
Came here to say this. It was an interesting read and would help describe some of the training and probationary procedures you’re likely to encounter with MPD
get a real job that you can legitimately help people at, like driving a bus for WMATA.
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Go with the feds
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So, I think in general you will find the same complaints about police departments in any major city. Overall MPD is not as drenched in scandal as some other places. That is not to say they do a great job, my previous employment gave me great insight to some of the really problematic aspects of the work.
If its just about the money and you don't care where, I think Seattle PD is actually one of the highest paid in the country. But that may not be true anymore. I do know based on the MPD recruiting emails they pay higher than here.
As others have said if you truly have an interest in making change and doing good, sure. Go for it. However many good natured people lose themselves in law enforcement and are burned out trying to do good and end up falling into bad habits. So do consider what this work really means to you and how far you're willing to go for it. A friend of mind joined with this mindset and ended up becoming frustrated with how little space there was for good meaningful change and ended up leaving to go into policy.
Nothing like seeing the “inside” of an organization to really understand its issues. At least, your friend left and is trying to make it better from the outside. Care sharing what you mean by “fall into bad habits.” Institutionally, I am trying to understand phenomena in police forces (e.g., burnout, taking bribes, unethical behavior).
I thought my friend had done an interview after leaving but I couldn't find it. But I was actually thinking less of the actual unethical behavior and more about something I think I remembered him talking about which was just the burn out you get from trying to do good in a system that's so stuck in the mindset they're in. Falling into bad habits as in falling into complacency. If I'm remembering correctly he saw many other offers who started out similar to him and end up just feeling like it wasn't worth it anymore and would let the more traditional bad apples act out, and if the department was doing things they disagreed with they didn't have the energy or motivation to push back anymore. And unfortunately the offices that fall into that are a part of the problem too.
But yes my friend is much more hopeful and motivated in their new position now. It's just unfortunate that it's so hard for good cops to make a difference.
If you’re interested in law enforcement, why would the recruitment incentives be a trap?
Big city departments are a whole different beast than SOs or local LE. It’s frustrating because you will see the same people doing the same things again and again.
I’d greatly appreciate your service, but you couldn’t pay me enough.
I have a few friends in MPD and from what I've heard (only from them) it sucks, they loathe it, and it's really terrible. HOWEVER it's better than most other state/city-level LE agencies.
If you want to be in state-level or city-level law enforcement, it's a good gig. If you value your time and energy and emotional state, it isn't.
i was in the pipe line for the academy as a reserve. it's a hard fuckin job man.
Do it!
Appreciate all the comments everyone, given me a lot of things to think about.
happy holidays!
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Look at Alexandria. https://www.alexandriava.gov/JoinAPD
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You'd be very limited in what you're allowed to enforce and it could be a very frustrating experience, not a problem if you just want to use it as a stepping stone. I'd recommend looking at other local law enforcement close by in Maryland and northern Virginia.
MPD are lazy af from my personal encounters. Literally sit in their cars and play games or watch movies on their phone while crimes are happening under their noses. I’ve seen $10/hr rent-a-cops rove the neighborhood more than these OVERTIME having fiends. I called the cops on a tenant of mine who was going crazy in my house and they came and left in 2 mins. They didn’t call me to inform me of what happened and then one of the cops starts laughing about the situation smhhhh
Police departments will never change for the better if they don’t recruit genuinely good people who care about others and the communities they serve.
Take the leap, and be a “good one,” that influences many others to also be good. Then maybe we’ll have a collection of GREAT departments.
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There are something like 20 different police forces in DC, and I think MPD is the one people complain about the most. I mostly hear about them not releasing body cam footage or not following up with people who have reported crimes
That's because the vast majority of the interactions with law enforcement in DC is with MPD.
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YAB
Grow up
What is your motivation for starting a career in law enforcement? If it’s to serve your community and help people, there are far better options than serving in an institution that is inextricably linked to slavery and, in the case of MPD, mired in corruption.
The advice of other commenters is salient and, while I may have policy disagreements with some folks, you have a ton of good advice in the thread.
If you do take the leap into law enforcement, please be one of the good ones.
How is MPD linked to slavery? And what corruption cases have there been in the last 10-20 years? I can't recall any news stories of corruption in MPD.
Policing as an institution is rooted in slavery.
??????
I’m not gonna teach you the history of policing. There are plenty documentaries and scholarly articles readily available online.
As far as your corruption question, here’s just one example: https://revealnews.org/article/dc-police-tried-to-fire-24-current-officers-for-criminal-offenses/
There's no mention of bribes or corruption in that article. The laws those officers allegedly broke should certainly have landed them in court and fired if found guilty, but to say someone shouldn't become an officer in MPD because a few cops in there allegedly broke some laws a few years back makes no sense. If you're only going to work at places where no one has ever broken laws.... enjoy your unemployment.
And I'll wait for you to tell me how the police are so tied to slavery that no one should work for them.
Then you’ll be waiting for a long time. Like I said, I’m not gonna teach you the history of policing.
I also never said that OP shouldn’t become an officer with MPD or any other police force in the DMV. I asked what their motivation was and even commended other commenters for their good, salient advice.
Did I inject some of my own take on policing as an institution and include a gripe about MPD? Of course I did. It’s the internet. It’s what we all do. OP asked for “any and all accounts and opinions of the department” from this sub, so I gave my opinion. OP is free to take it or leave it.
lol/smh at getting downvoted for this incredibly mild comment
202clownaround t1_j10izqg wrote
Join DC fire. Our schedule and work life quality is way better. After 3 years you can become an arson investigator, they will put you through MPDs academy, you will become a sworn law enforcement officer and carry a gun, you’ll do investigations and can arrest people. Just like being a cop but better because you’re a firefighter instead.