My next-door neighbor had worked for a security company for almost 10 years when he was recently laid off, and had to look for a new job. He found a posting on our city's web site for three police officer openings, and within a month, his career in law enforcement began.
Before he started at the police academy, he had to go through an orientation where he watched different videos and took a series of tests to determine if he was a fit for a career in law enforcement, and he said that some of it was very difficult for him.
He had heard things about how the divorce rate for police officers was much higher than it was in other professions and that there was a higher prevalence of depression among police. Then there is the danger that police officers are in whenever they are on the job, so he had to do some real soul searching to see if this really was how we wanted to make a living.
I talked to a friend who was a police lieutenant with another community in the area and I asked him about any tips or advice I could give to my neighbor. He said that the best advice he could give was for him to try to leave his work at work and not bring it home to his family and burden his wife and kids.
That is often much easier said than done, especially when someone works in a high-stress vocation such as a career in law enforcement, but I went ahead and passed it on and my neighbor seemed grateful for the advice.
I asked him if it was something that he was sure he wanted to do, because I could tell that he was having a lot of difficulty with some of the aspects of the job. He said that he had thought a lot about it and prayed about it and decided that it was something that he really needed to do.
He told me that he chose a career in law enforcement for a couple of reasons. The first and most important is that he has a family of six and they need the income. He added, however, that he felt a sense of commitment and obligation to serve the community in which he had lived for so many years in whatever way he could, and what better way than by helping to keep it safe?
I really admire my friend for deciding on a career in law enforcement. I think that is due in part to his sense of devotion to our city, and also because I am not sure that it is something I could ever do!