Trying to be a cop in LA (Los Angeles, San Diego: houses, buy)

[zader]

I was actually searching for housing prices in California and stumbled onto this forum, and have spent the past few hours neglecting work reading the very very helpful posts.

As stated in the title I'm looking to become a police officer in LA. I live in Seoul, Korea now, halfway across the world. I only chose LA because they're hiring and offer a "relatively" good package, but I could work anywhere. Working in law enforcement has been a personal goal of mine for some time.

Could I make the switch to living in LA? A couple things about me now and where I live.

I'm 28, college graduate, have been working in private industry in Korea. U.S. citizen, mixed race (Asian + White). Fully bilingual in English and Korean.

Seoul is a big city with about 11 million people.
Traffic here: think Rome. Or Cairo. About 10 times worse than Tokyo
Smog: think Mexico City
Housing prices: can't be any lower than LA

Could I get by on an entry level salary of about 55k? Could I find a safe place to live for me and my wife? I don't mind commuting, I usually spend 2 hours commuting each day here, using public transportation that's crammed like a cattle car. Driving would take much longer.

Any suggestions would be really helpful.

I really am clueless about living in California. What would be some other large cities that offer good opportunities and living conditions?

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[hedgefundpirate]

http://www.lapd.com

If this is what you want to do than go ahead.The LAPD could probably use a guy like you.Go to the websight and email someone there who will probably b be glad to help you.

[Futcha]

I'm going to try getting on LAPD also. But I have a few years before I'm qualified.

[California]

Hello Zader.

I don't have any specific knowledge on law enforcement but I've been seeing plenty of advertisements for Los Angeles Police Department and California Highway Patrol around Los Angeles/Orange Counties. As far as getting by making $55,000 I think you should be fine, depending on your choices of housing/automobile/ and if you have children.

Cities that offer good living and work opportunities? In my honest opinion, you may want to look into some of the "smaller cities" in Orange County such as Fullerton, Brea, Placentia, Orange, Tustin, or Irvine. These are cities, on the whole, are very safe and would be great places to live. I'm not too familiar with work opportunities in law enforcement in those cities, but quality of living in Orange County is very good. As far as Los Angeles is concerned perhaps the Pasadena area (Burbank, Glendale)? I'm not too familiar with these cities and work opportunities there.

And commuting in Southern California is a mixed bag really. Don't get me wrong, the freeways can get very bad during rush hours (i.e. the 405 freeway nearby Culver City most hours of the day), and parking in Downtown cities can be a living nightmare. But it depends on which hours you work and which freeways you drive: and I think with Law Enforcement you may not be working the normal 9-5 shift so you may not encounter as much traffic. My pops works from 4pm-12am (driving from Lakewood - El Segundo) and he doesn't encounter traffic - but those are pretty odd hours.

[zader]

Thanks for all of your replies folks, they are really helpful.

[Luke9686]

You may want to look into the San Jose Police Department in Northern Cali. They pay more, and are pretty much always hiring. The starting pay is I believe around $65,000-$70,000, and top out at $107,000.

They are in the top 10 pd's in the nation.

You could also try Santa Clara county sheriff, they start over $70,000 and are always hiring.

San Jose is a really safe city also. Much safer than the L.A. area.

Try www.sjpd.org and www.gosheriff.com

San Jose is a tad more expensive than the L.A. area, but either way I doubt you would be able to own a home on a starting police salary in either city.

IMO San Jose is a good fit if safety for your family is a concern.

[Futcha]

San Diego PD wouldn’t be bad. It’s a big city.

If New York interests you could be a State Trooper and they get paid a lot. My Dad’s friend who’s a New York State Trooper just bought a $400,000 house in the Buffalo area. If you have a wife working you can buy a comfortable place near NYC. If you want a beautiful house you might want to look in to Atlanta or some smaller cities like Buffalo, Cincinnati, etc…

Chicago PD is another good one. Know a guy on Chicago PD and he loves it.

Oh, and San Antonio PD is good. The houses are DIRT CHEAP down there and it’s always warm. It’s a big city too and is growing. The population is well over a million

[snb3]

Hey, I went to Yonsei about a decade back!
I currently live in LA K-town & know many Korean-American LAPDs (not saying you're Korean, just a guess since you're in Seoul).
I think most pull in about high $60ks-$80k w/ OT. A good portion see LAPD as a stepping stone to other agencies (take that for what it means). Rampant political postering within (as any large law enforcement agency). I think Ca. Dept. of Corrections has better benefits so you might want to chk it out if you don't mind working in a jail.

$55k in LA is though unless your wife works too. If you do OT & wifey doesn't mind you working off hours to start, I think it'll be ok as long as you're ok with the line of work.

[zader]

Luke - I went to the San Jose PD website, and it definitely looks good. I'll be sure to check it out some more, maybe visit the city when I take a trip to CA.

Futurecop - Chicago PD is excellent but they don't seem to be hiring a lot of officers. Looks like they hire maybe once a year or even 2 years, as opposed to many of the departments in CA and the southern regions in general that seem to be hiring constantly.

snb3 - I went to high school right behind Yonsei, the foreign school that shares a gate with Yonsei. It was right around that time too, I graduated HS in 97. Got a real good dose of the tear gas during the big demonstrations in '94 I think it was.

Thanks for the tip, but I'll try my best at becoming an LAPD cop. It's something of a dream. I know that living in LA won't be a life of luxury on a police officer's pay, at least during the first few years, but I'm willing to sacrefice.

[miracle]

an Asian police, here, in LAPD?? I dont think so, nasty areas are black and latino and there no asian will be well received, I think you should try other cops as San Francisco, or Irvine in OC, or affluent and secluded San Marino, there asian are good received and wanna Asian cops to keep their gated mansions, but LAPD is a latin, white and black cop is not asian, and I think should stay off that way. Its not racism, is a real story, people want in the streets of Los Angeles cops of the same races they are, and probably no area with many cops in Los Angeles, but some parts of Downtown, are Asian...., so I think you have a no a bright future in LAPD.