iBanking/NYPD - compensation v. workload

The lower levels of police work can put you in a lot of danger. I've got cops in my family that have some cool stories from their earlier days, but they're glad they didn't get killed, and being treated for PTSD isn't uncommon. As you move up the food chain, you interact more with the politicians and can get involved in detective work, SWAT stuff, specialties, or recruitment to other things like private security or federal gov't work (I know secret service that started as local cops, state police etc). Figure out what you want to do and get good at it: if you're an adrenaline junky, you don't want to be stuck at a desk job or vice versa. It's common for high end white collar folks to look down their noses on police and firemen, but they ARE authority figures and most people like having you around as long as you aren't a douche (aka "I'll kick your ass / arrest you, I'm a cop buy me a drink" that kind of crap). DO NOT become corrupt, it's becomming very easy to figure out who's up to what, and the penalty can make an insider trading conviction look desireable by comparison....

The pay isn't spectacular, so there's no point to comparing it to banking. DO NOT look at the money if you're thinking about becoming a cop, that's not why people join. Unless you are SERIOUSLY committed or highly connected, you will not move into the upper echelons. Entire families of cops work the system at an intergenerational level and it's often more political than politics. Also: it's not a game. It's not just a job. You can always walk away, but you can't half ass it and expect to last. These guys take this stuff dead seriously, and you could die. You carry a gun and may be killed or may have to kill someone and it's not some 2/4 year military stint....this is your life, for decades and it will filter over into every other aspect of your life: ask yourself honestly if you can live with that. This isn't a secret, but this way you can't say no one warned you.

People love firemen, they sometimes hate on cops because well who likes speeding tickets, but the fact is that most people take you pretty seriously considering you are typically well trained, armed, and ready to take a bullet for them. It's much more likely you'll be tied to one area or even one city/state depending on the force you join, so keep that in mind. Most of these guys all hang out with each other, it's like a fraternity, and they take that pretty seriously (mess with a cop's family and watch what happens). There's also other things to consider, like the mob, terrorism, insane locals, politician idiots, the media looking for a 'gotcha' etc etc etc and I know more than a few guys that got fed up and found other jobs. If you think bankers get picked on by the media, you haven't seen anything! The plus side is that the pensions are pretty good and unlikely to go away, so there's that, and you have to screw up pretty badly to get thrown out: they take care of their own. Some people love it, others just do their job, some guys HATE it....think it over before you act one way or the other, and talk to some cops to get your own feel of the job and the individual dept.

One other thing, and take this for what it is. A hell of a lot of cops are veterans and they're always going to bust your balls about it even if they sat on some shitty base in knucklefuck peeling potatoes, they'll NEVER get over themselves. Ask yourself if that's the crowd you want to be around. It's not good or bad, it's just the way it is. My hometown hires almost exclusively from the ranks of former Marines, and take their police force very very seriously, and the guys who didn't go through the Corps pretty much are relegated to traffic duty. I'm not sure what NYPD does, but I'm going to guess they have their share of hardasses (or hardass wannabes). Most of the guys on any force are a good bunch of dudes, and I know a cop with multiple masters degrees in engineering (I have no idea why he did that) ....but for the most part you're dealing with the muscle of society and it can be a rough crowd.

This is about as much as I know, I looked at it too years ago and decided it wasn't for me, hope this helps?