Hi all!

Figured I'd share some great information to you all pertaining to Illinois and how to become a Peace Officer in that state. Currently, I'm active duty military about ready to discharge under honorable conditions in September and I plan on following my childhood dream of becoming a Peace Officer.

For those of you from the State of Illinois, you already know that the state is a huge pain in the rear with all the legaility issues when it comes to anything. But here is what I've learned so far.

• You cannot attend a Police Academy with your own money, you have to be hired, and sponsored by a Police Department prior to going.
• Law Enforcement jobs in IL. are at a low right now.
• You need to be somewhat in-shape and pass the P.O.W.E.R. Test.
• If you live near the Missouri border, you can attend a Missouri Police Academy WITHOUT being hired, or sponsored by a Police Department. You also do not need to be an Missouri resident to attend these academies. The only requirements are a valid drivers license, and of the age of 21.
• If you do go through a Missouri Police academy, you can transfer your certification to Illinois by taking a 4 hour firearms course, Police and Law online course, and passing a 200 question certification test by the State of Illinois. (Got this answer from the Illinois Director of Training and Standards himself)

That's just some stuff I've learned if any of you are from that area, I can answer alot of questions in regards to Illinois Law Enforcement if you all have any questions. The hardest part about becoming a Police Officer in the State of Illinois is getting the initial hire from a Police Department which could be challenging as most well-paying Departments require a Bachelors degree, however, if you have served 4 years of active duty service, a college education is generally waived, just read the fine print!

If you all have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I can get the answers you need especially to any of my fellow veterans on here in regards to the GI Bill.

 

Thanks!

 

TJ.

Edited August 3, 20169 yr by TJ.

All this information is good, but can't your post be summarized by saying "You can do all this stuff do become a cop, but you're not going to get hired because there are no jobs."?

Maybe you could make this thread of yours a super-center of police academy info and gather this stuff for all 50 states, or at least help out your friends in Illinois who wish to go into this line of work by looking some of this stuff up for neighboring state since they apparently won't get hired in IL.

Would my Master degree in law, some LE experience, an Army lieutenant rank and job history in one of the Big4 companies make me competitive? Never mind the citizenship, I'm just curious

18 hours ago, Hastings said:

Would my Master degree in law, some LE experience, an Army lieutenant rank and job history in one of the Big4 companies make me competitive? Never mind the citizenship, I'm just curious

Actually, every person I have in my network that are in Law Enforcement highly reccomend you do not get a degree in Criminal Justice or LE due to the fact everyone already has a Criminal Justice degree and with something such as Business, IT Networking, Forestry, etc the Department can use you as an asset having knowledge in one of those fields if an issue arises. Also, they will train you to there standards in the academy therefore your CJ degree isn't that crazy. Just gives you an advantage in the field when it comes to case law.

4 hours ago, TJ. said:

Actually, every person I have in my network that are in Law Enforcement highly reccomend you do not get a degree in Criminal Justice or LE due to the fact everyone already has a Criminal Justice degree and with something such as Business, IT Networking, Forestry, etc the Department can use you as an asset having knowledge in one of those fields if an issue arises. Also, they will train you to there standards in the academy therefore your CJ degree isn't that crazy. Just gives you an advantage in the field when it comes to case law.

Sounds good, at least with an IT degree you won't be starving if the LE gig doesn't go well. However, I'm not CJ or LE, I have Masters in Financial Law and Financial Security. Assets investigation, bankruptcy, that kind of stuff. Though I guess these are not the qualifications that will be useful on patrol.