I want to join a small department. I know that a federal agency will start me off with more pay, more benefits but the fbi police is more like security forces, guarding federal buildings and checkpoints. But I think I would enjoy doing something different everyday such as traffic stops and responding to calls, the one on one experience with the public. Someone told me it’s easier to go from feds to local than local to feds which I don’t think is true
feel free to add to the list:
Fbi Police
Pros: More money, great benefits, easier to get promoted in the pay scale, be part of an elite organization, looks great on your resume
Cons: very little public interaction, stand post, same routines everyday, very little “policing”
Local agency
Pros: Everyday is different, you interact with people, make citations, make a difference, put the bad guys away, job satisification
Cons: less pay, less benefits
I know most of you will state do what you want but I want a little bit of both and need some guidance or experienced officers to help me answer this question
Both are good departments to join. However FBI has a lot of divisions to offer rather than just desk work. It depends what you desire really. If you rather have a big jurisdiction and fight off federal criminals while working with local and state agencies, that’d be cool. Or if you rather be a local agency where you have a smaller jurisdiction where you have the opportunity to work with FBI here and there. Both are interesting options.
If you’re not interested in either, you can do sheriff’s office or even as some people like me want to do, state police, you’re going to have a bit of each. It all depends what your preference is and why you want to join either. Do you just wanna put bigger criminals behind bars or handle higher profile cases? Then FBI is for you. However do you rather work with the public and also help out with other emergency services and even have acceptance within the community you are in while you don’t get as much of that in the FBI? Then local law enforcement it is.
Anyway these are just my thoughts on that but realize the real reason why you want to become a law enforcement officer and what purpose do you want to have while in the agency you choose. Good luck out there with that!
this is not necessarily true, there are agents that have been in the bureau for 6+ months and have not been promoted simply because there are longer serving agents or there are no open positions
our fbi police act as an actual policing force, you’re not hard stuck guarding buildings all day