I’m a deputy in an SO in central Fl and will be retiring in 4 months. I still enjoy investigations and I’m looking to continue working. How is your agency to work for?
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I’m a deputy in an SO in central Fl and will be retiring in 4 months. I still enjoy investigations and I’m looking to continue working. How is your agency to work for?
We're a small agency, with about 105 statewide. We have a very low turnover rate, and overall are rather happy with the place.
If you don't have any problems getting dirty digging fire scenes and working on-call monthly (including weekends and rotating holidays), give us a try. People always ask me how many times we respond while covering on-call: there's no way to tell. It may not be at all, or it may be 5 times in a single day. Of course, we also do criminal case follow-up, so not all of our work involves heavy amounts of burnt crud.
The salary is....well, it's a state job, so it isn't great. But there is flexibility, plenty of leave accrued, and you do get paid a small stipend for covering on-call, whether you get a call or not. Take-home car from the beginning, laptop PC to work from anywhere, and plenty of training to be had.
If you have no fire investigation experience, you will be run ragged during your FTO, but that is because there is just no other way for you to learn but by getting dirty. Once you get through that phase, things settle down a bit. We are a bit unique here, not only because of our technical specialty, but because we work more than just "a fire" - fires can be accidental, or obviously intentionally set (arson). Arson may be for profit, hide another crime, used as a weapon, hate crime, etc... Your simple fire can become quite complex and branch into something entirely different. Today's fire could be fraud, but the next could be homicide.
Out of a scale of 1-10, I give it an 8.5