Starting the probation officer academy - Page 3
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  1. #21
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    You have to drive 2 miles in under 11:20 lol

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
    You have to drive 2 miles in under 11:20 lol
    In our well maintained state cars, that could present an enormous challenge! Even for an elite athlete like the previous poster.

  3. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by flprobationandparole View Post
    Fist of all, hi! This is my first post.



    As others have stated, your attitude sucks and with that way of thinking you'll only serve to drive P&P further down the wrong road with laxed supervision and add to the negative stigmata already attached to the profession. Probation is evolving into a more LE oriented gig. The times where a 4 yr degree and a pulse were all you needed are just about over. The agency is talking about a fairly decent increase in pay to put P&P on the same field as other state LE jobs (FWC/FHP) and implementing a PT test/ height weight requirements as a part of the hiring standards. The class I was in was comprised of prior LEO's, prior CO's, and prior Military. The vast majority had CJ degrees as well, so i'm assuming the shift may have already began. I can tell you this shift will boost morale and serve to save the department money (hopefully getting us that raise) as tenure and hiring competitiveness will certainly increase. Being fully staffed with QUALITY officers is something FL DC hasn't had in a long time from my understanding. Being able to carry openly outside the office and concealed carry inside the office (which should be changing fairly soon with open carry inside the office as well) is a huge change in direction from the days of carrying a revolver concealed in the field and to me, is a testament of the overhaul to come. They have been talking about issuing Glock firearms to officers for a while now, I would say that's due to happen within the next couple years (until then bit the bullet and buy your own..don't be that guy without a weapon, it's dangerous).

    That being said, i'm not here to judge you. I graduated from the Pat Thomas CPO Academy recently. PT is done by a private company called Titus. You do pretty much the same work out as the folks they charge to train in their Tallahassee office. PT was running, push-ups, sit-ups, activity with the medicine ball and a slew of other cardio/cross fit exercises. The PT test is a 1.5 mile run, sit ups, push ups, 200 yrd sprint, sit and reach, vertical jump, high jump, hand pressure test and weight in. You take an initial assessment on day 1, then you take another assessment towards the end, at this time the standard is self improvement. Actually DT was more intense than PT. In DT we did about 30 mins of exercise prior to training with side straddle hops (Jumping Jacks), planks, push ups, running, mounting climbers, ect until exhaustion. I like PT and I wish we would have done more than 3 days a week. We had 3 get recycled during DT due to injuries.

    In terms of classes, academics get a lot of people sent home. you have to score at least an 80% on all block tests to pass that block. Get below the 80%, you get a retake, fail the retake..you are packing your stuff and leaving the same day, no exceptions. Yes, even those with a 4 yr degree fail these tests regularly. The academy tests are written by both academy instructors as well as CJSTC folks and are not to be taken lightly. The legal block is the most difficult and lengthy (luckily it's the first section..so they don't have to wait and see if they are wasting their time with you) The state exam is around 240 questions and requires an 82% to pass. Around 90% of my class passed the exam. The cost of the exam is $150.00, should you not pass the exam you can retake it twice, each time the cost of the exam is out of your pocket. Fail it a third time and you are no longer eligible to take the exam.

    You get issued a State Probation Officer Jacket, 5.11 tactical boots, 5.11 operator belt, (2) 5.11 tac-lite pants, (2) tac polo shirts with the CPO badge and your name on it, a backpack, and PT gear. The academy sells additional pants and can order you additional polo shirts to be embroidered. I would highly recommend you buy additional uniforms as washers and dryers can become a scarce commodity due to other agencies coming on your floor, using your stuff, because of an issue with their machines. Nice to have a full weeks worth of clothes you can take home and bring back. All uniforms need to be pressed daily and boots shined. Inspections are a regular thing.


    Coming from a prior military and prior CO background with two Criminal Justice degrees the academy wasn't hard, but you needed to pay attention. I haven't been doing the job long and may very well go an LE route in the near future, but this academy was a good experience and it's always good to have an additional FDLE-CJ certification under your belt.

    I know this is probably more than what you asked for, but I thought I would do a dump here of everything pertinent that I could think of.

    Best of Luck!
    Good post. All I can say is we need more officers with your line of thinking.

  4. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
    In our well maintained state cars, that could present an enormous challenge! Even for an elite athlete like the previous poster.
    LOL that's true

  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by flprobationandparole View Post
    Fist of all, hi! This is my first post.



    As others have stated, your attitude sucks and with that way of thinking you'll only serve to drive P&P further down the wrong road with laxed supervision and add to the negative stigmata already attached to the profession. Probation is evolving into a more LE oriented gig. The times where a 4 yr degree and a pulse were all you needed are just about over. The agency is talking about a fairly decent increase in pay to put P&P on the same field as other state LE jobs (FWC/FHP) and implementing a PT test/ height weight requirements as a part of the hiring standards. The class I was in was comprised of prior LEO's, prior CO's, and prior Military. The vast majority had CJ degrees as well, so i'm assuming the shift may have already began. I can tell you this shift will boost morale and serve to save the department money (hopefully getting us that raise) as tenure and hiring competitiveness will certainly increase. Being fully staffed with QUALITY officers is something FL DC hasn't had in a long time from my understanding. Being able to carry openly outside the office and concealed carry inside the office (which should be changing fairly soon with open carry inside the office as well) is a huge change in direction from the days of carrying a revolver concealed in the field and to me, is a testament of the overhaul to come. They have been talking about issuing Glock firearms to officers for a while now, I would say that's due to happen within the next couple years (until then bit the bullet and buy your own..don't be that guy without a weapon, it's dangerous).

    That being said, i'm not here to judge you. I graduated from the Pat Thomas CPO Academy recently. PT is done by a private company called Titus. You do pretty much the same work out as the folks they charge to train in their Tallahassee office. PT was running, push-ups, sit-ups, activity with the medicine ball and a slew of other cardio/cross fit exercises. The PT test is a 1.5 mile run, sit ups, push ups, 200 yrd sprint, sit and reach, vertical jump, high jump, hand pressure test and weight in. You take an initial assessment on day 1, then you take another assessment towards the end, at this time the standard is self improvement. Actually DT was more intense than PT. In DT we did about 30 mins of exercise prior to training with side straddle hops (Jumping Jacks), planks, push ups, running, mounting climbers, ect until exhaustion. I like PT and I wish we would have done more than 3 days a week. We had 3 get recycled during DT due to injuries.

    In terms of classes, academics get a lot of people sent home. you have to score at least an 80% on all block tests to pass that block. Get below the 80%, you get a retake, fail the retake..you are packing your stuff and leaving the same day, no exceptions. Yes, even those with a 4 yr degree fail these tests regularly. The academy tests are written by both academy instructors as well as CJSTC folks and are not to be taken lightly. The legal block is the most difficult and lengthy (luckily it's the first section..so they don't have to wait and see if they are wasting their time with you) The state exam is around 240 questions and requires an 82% to pass. Around 90% of my class passed the exam. The cost of the exam is $150.00, should you not pass the exam you can retake it twice, each time the cost of the exam is out of your pocket. Fail it a third time and you are no longer eligible to take the exam.

    You get issued a State Probation Officer Jacket, 5.11 tactical boots, 5.11 operator belt, (2) 5.11 tac-lite pants, (2) tac polo shirts with the CPO badge and your name on it, a backpack, and PT gear. The academy sells additional pants and can order you additional polo shirts to be embroidered. I would highly recommend you buy additional uniforms as washers and dryers can become a scarce commodity due to other agencies coming on your floor, using your stuff, because of an issue with their machines. Nice to have a full weeks worth of clothes you can take home and bring back. All uniforms need to be pressed daily and boots shined. Inspections are a regular thing.


    Coming from a prior military and prior CO background with two Criminal Justice degrees the academy wasn't hard, but you needed to pay attention. I haven't been doing the job long and may very well go an LE route in the near future, but this academy was a good experience and it's always good to have an additional FDLE-CJ certification under your belt.

    I know this is probably more than what you asked for, but I thought I would do a dump here of everything pertinent that I could think of.

    Best of Luck!
    Good post, very interesting

    I thought you guys already needed a college degree and already made more than FHP, their salary is 33k annually, a bit more in Miami Dade. FWC got a raise recently I believe so their entry level salary is now higher than FHP.

  6. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by flprobationandparole View Post
    All state felony CPO's are required to have at least a Bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution. Just to clarify I believe you were responding to this


    "Yes, even those with a 4 yr degree fail these tests regularly."


    What I meant was even though everyone in the class has a Bachelor's degree or higher, students regularly fail the tests. In the academy CPO's are on a $30,000 trainee salary. After you pass the state exam and get certified as a CPO I the salary increases to $33,478.12 without the possibility of overtime (at least for now).


    Looking at the Trooper website it would appear their current starting base salary (recruit and certified) is $33,977.04 annually with over time. I talked to a few Troopers while in the academy and they were getting at least 10 hours of OT a week while in the academy as they had an unlimited pool of OT available..and no shortage of regular and 'extra-curricular' training early in the morning and in the wee hours of the night..in the form of push ups, running around, and surprise spot inspections.


    CPO Salary: http://www.fldocjobs.com/paths/cpo/salary.html


    FL State Trooper Salary: http://beatrooper.com/requirements/


    I heard fairly recently that both FHP and FWC got a bump in pay..not sure how accurate that is. The individual that told me this seemed to think the bump was good for all state law enforcement.

    I didn't read your first post carefully I guess, I thought you wrote somewhere that a college degree might become a requirement or something similar, no big deal.

    I was convinced you guys made more than that, I am surprised. I have heard about FWC getting a bump, not FHP, you can go on their page and ask you will quickly get an answer.

    Yes they have plenty of OT, but I don't recommend relying on OT (when you are looking for an agency to apply) to basically pay the bills (some do), nor do I recommend working too much OT when still on probation, as a LEO you are exposing yourself a bit more than necessary in my opinion, after that work as much OT as you want and can handle.

    Many Troopers do their 2 years upon graduation and apply to SO and PD, more $$$, and often more opportunities for advancement and special units.


    This State really doesn't pay well.

  7. #27
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    "The times where a 4 yr degree and a pulse were all you needed are just about over."


    Those people (95% female) are your Sup II, III, and higher ups now. If you can find a Hispanic male officer, take his picture. They
    are more rare than white elephants. If you find a male Hispanic supervisor, play the lottery.

    In one office in Miami, the ratio of female to male is 28-2.

    If there is a shift, I don't see it yet. Same staff, different day.

  8. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
    I am not a PO, I am a LEO so I cannot tell you much about the Academy for Probation BUT I will tell you this...

    If this ^^^^^ is how you see the profession you are about to start, chances are you made a mistake. Probation Officers will have more to say but I doubt you can put a whole career in this field if you are already complaining about how you would rather join FHP instead of being a "social worker at a desk", PO do a bit more than pushing a pen sitting at a desk by the way.
    And if you think that FHP is like heaven, think again, before you waste someone's else time, they have their issues like everybody else, not a great salary, high turnover rate, Troopers are not as supported by their brass as they would like (some Troops are much better than others), many get sick and tired of the missions after a couple of years, too much micro management in some areas...

    What do you want exactly? A career in something related to law enforcement and corrections, with a decent salary, but you are already whining about doing push ups, sit ups, running a few days a week, all that while you are being paid? Again I am not a PO so I am not sure what their fitness program consists of, I honestly doubt it is as demanding as a military boot camp, if you have been training you should do okay, show determination that's what every fitness instructor wants to see. You shouldn't be complaining about that imo, even if you aren't "a real cop", being fit and sharp can only benefit you It is probably rare but what if the probationer wants to pick a fight with you, how are you going to handle yourself if you are completely out of shape? Keep in mind that as a PO you are part of the criminal justice system, some bad people see you as a target.

    The physical fitness program shouldn't be what makes you join Probation, FHP or anything else. And reading "I rather join FHP..." I am assuming that you would be good with the FHP Academy demanding physical fitness training? So why is this a problem with the Probation Academy?
    +1 I hate trolls!

  9. #29
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    my office is comprised as follows: 4 black females, 2 black males, 3 Hispanic males and a white guy.

  10. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
    my office is comprised as follows: 4 black females, 2 black males, 3 Hispanic males and a white guy.
    Sounds like a "Burger King or McDonalds" Commercial in the makings to me!

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