I'm thinking about becoming a Cop in Memphis??? (Bartlett, Germantown: condo, crime)

[PhDnMe]

Well, thinking about making a career change. I'm currently a City Planner in L.A. and also a reserve cop. I'm tired of wasting away in a cubicle and so tired of L.A.'s traffic, anti-social its all about me attitude, and the gazillion dollars you have to pay for a nice house, or 500k for a decent condo... O.k. deep breath.....

Anyway, I'm thinking of making a change and going into law enforcement full-time with Memphis P.D. Why Memphis you say? Well I went to graduate school in the South (Alabama and Mississippi) and after living in L.A. for four years I realize although it was slower in the South, people were friendly, friends are genuine, most people respect your education for the most part, traffic is not that bad, you have enough hours in your day to do more than just go to work and sit on the freeway.

Being that police work is a passion of mine and Memphis seems to have a lot crime (I currently work at a station in South Central L.A., you get the picture....)
It would give me an opportunity to move back South, plus my fiance, who is a nurse, is from MS and would like to be closer to her family.

I guess I'm asking does anybody know what I would be getting into in terms of Living in Memphis and Working as cop. PS, I've been looking at Harbor Town/Mud Island as a nice place to live...... Thanx......

[Pearlbob]

You would definitely have plenty of work to do here. Memphis is a good place to be if you are in the crime-field (either side) and you understand how dangerous of a place it can be. I imagine working in bad areas of LA, you understand this.

There is a poster on this forum who is a cop/former cop. I cannot remember who. Hopefully he will read this and can give some personal insight.

[Dd714]

Probably not a good place to become a public servent. Let me rephrase that - great for some (King Willie's buddies do very well, and there have been a number of 'bad cop' stories, curruption, etc), bad for many.

On the radio today someone, an anomynous cop I think, was discussing reverse discrimination issues on the force. Apparantly white is the wrong color for the police force.

[tomterr]

The Memphis Police department is Afirmitive Action, which means a minimally qualified person of a skin color other than white, and preferrably black, is preferred to a more educated, more highly qualified white male. White females benefit also from Afirmative Action.
If you are a white male, the PD will hire you, ONLY if a mininally qualified minority cannot be found. In Memphis it is difficult to find enough mininally qualified minorities, so your chances are good, even if you are white. If you are a black male with the proper credentials, you will be promoted extremely fast.
The black racism is however a very big problem in the PD, as well as the rest of the City.

[simcity]

Dear PhDnMe,

We desperately need you here. Please come make a difference. You will have plenty of never ending crime and your money will go far. 500k will get you a condo in L.A. or an upscale dream home in Memphis. According to City-Data and as of 2005, only 1.2% of the houses in Memphis are valued above $500k and 0.2% are valued above $1M.

[umograd83]

Originally Posted by PhDnMe

Anyway, I'm thinking of making a change and going into law enforcement full-time with Memphis P.D. Why Memphis you say? Well I went to graduate school in the South (Alabama and Mississippi) and after living in L.A. for four years I realize although it was slower in the South, people were friendly, friends are genuine, most people respect your education for the most part, traffic is not that bad, you have enough hours in your day to do more than just go to work and sit on the freeway.

Being that police work is a passion of mine and Memphis seems to have a lot crime (I currently work at a station in South Central L.A., you get the picture....)
It would give me an opportunity to move back South, plus my fiance, who is a nurse, is from MS and would like to be closer to her family.

I guess I'm asking does anybody know what I would be getting into in terms of Living in Memphis and Working as cop. PS, I've been looking at Harbor Town/Mud Island as a nice place to live...... Thanx......

Sounds like Memphis would be a fit for you. There is plenty of crime here to be taken care of. I don't blame you for wanting to leave LA. I left DC many years ago because I wanted to get out of the rat race. Memphis is really laid back.

[Pimpy]

Originally Posted by Dd714

On the radio today someone, an anomynous cop I think, was discussing reverse discrimination issues on the force. Apparantly white is the wrong color for the police force.

There is no such thing as reverse discrimination. When you use a term like that, the implication is that whites have the market cornered on racism, and discrimination by any other ethnic group requires a qualifier.

Discrimination is discrimination, no matter which way you slice it.

[Hello1234]

You may want to look at the surrounding areas of Memphis. Germantown, Bartlett, or Collierville Police Departments.

[anonymice]

Report it? To who? The police are as bad as the people they're supposed to be chasing." - My neighbor's response when I ask her if she had reported that her car had been broken into. There were 8 cars I know of that were broken into on about a quarter-mile stretch of our street that night and as far as I know none were reported to the police. Many in Memphis fear the police as much or more than they do the criminals.
They've recently changed the requirements for being a cop in Memphis - now the only education requirement is high school. Exactly what Memphis needs: more poorly educated products of the Memphis City School system running around with guns.
Then there was the MPD (Memphis Police Department) promotion exams. When the exam could not produce the desired results (ie not enough blacks could pass) instead of more training, education and/or exam prep for officers the exam was thrown out and the city began using a different (read easier) one to get the results they wanted.
I personally would not live in Memphis and as soon as I can afford to do so I will sell my home and leave. I, and many others, are trapped in Memphis we can't afford the loss we'd have to take to sell and move out.
If I just had to live in this area I'd look at the Collierville, Germantown or Bartlett Police Departments. Most of the crime in these areas are the results of being so close to Memphis.</p></p>

[Dd714]

Another thing the OP needs to check on is PD starting salary. I can't remember what is was, but it was shockingly low.
Yeah, unfortunetly, "poorly educated (and poorly paid) products of the Memphis City School system running around with guns" is a good representative description of the force. Hence the number of "bad cop" stories in this city that rival New Orleans in magnitude.