Question

First off I would like to tell all of the LEOs out there THANK YOU for your service.
Now for my question... I am 30 years old and I am currently employed in a dead end job with no future and I want to make a move to a new career. I have always been interested in law enforcement and I want to proceed with it. I have a high school diploma and that is it. My question is what is the best way to proceed with a career with the Plant City PD? I live in Lakeland and have a friend that works with the PD there he says not to work at LPD. I have heard that Plant City is a great place to work. Any info that you could give will be greatly appriciated.

dont work for pcpd

Who knows if the above poster even works here.......

Well, I do currently work for PCPD and I say drop by and pick up an application, fill it out, and send it back in. We do not have a degree requirement for an officer position here unlike some other agencies. Thirty years old is not to old to apply. We tend to be a younger department and have hired many "rookies" around that age who have turned out to be great officers. The best way to get hired is to have a fairly clean and decent past and be yourself during the interviews. Remember that any agency will have their set of negative people and problems but if you have common sense and are willing to work hard you should be fine. All police agencies in the area, even the state, are going through major budget crisis right now. PCPD is no different. The pay could be better here and hopefully our city is in the process of realizing that to get and retain better officers they need to fix that. However, as you stated you are in a dead end job.....working at PCPD is a career not just another dead end job. Some of our officers, especially ones that really haven't experienced anything else, forget that. Talk to some of the older guys who have been through the good times and bad times and they will tell you. Things are constantly changing but that is the nature of any department you might want to work for. Come by the station and see if our training officer or accreditation officer is available to tell you more about the agency when you pick up an application. They are two good guys who have been here awhile and can probably answer most of your questions.

Thank you for the info. I will get by there and pick up an app.

Should I enroll in the academy before I apply? If so what is the best one to go to? What is the cost?

Yes, you need to apply to and start a police academy before you realistically apply to PCPD. Currently, only certified officers are being hired. The department does not pay for anyone to get their certification. Since it has been years since I went I have no idea how much it would be. Depending on where you live, there is an academy in Polk County at the community college, HCC at Ybor City campus, and one over in St. Pete. Each academy will be able to give you specifics about their programs. Some used to even offer night academies for people who worked full time jobs during the day but I don't know if any of them still do that.

Should I enroll in the academy before I apply? If so what is the best one to go to? What is the cost?

All in all if you go to Hillsborough Community College's Academy which is decent it will cost about 5 to 6 grand when you factor in tuition, books, traffic template, gun, ammo, uniforms, phyisicals and so on.