police jobs, upper peninsula (Sault Ste. Marie, Houghton: income, universities, art)

[AndreaW]

Hi! My husband and I are considering a move to the UP. Does anyone have an idea about how difficult jobs are to come by in law enforcement? My DH is a deputy for our county right now and would like to stay in LE.

Thank you!

[Great Lakes Pirate]

I'm not in Law Enforcement, but I'm friends with a couple of sherrif's deputies -- so my info is hardly insider, but hopefully helpful.

First of all, only a few municipalities have their own police departments. For example, where I live in Houghton County only the villages of Lake Linden, Calumet, Laurium, and the cities of Houghton and Hancock of their own police forces. In the case of the villages, we're talking maybe 5 FT officers.

In townships, etc, the sheriff's departments have the local jurisdiction. Houghton County has about 30 FT deputies for a far-flung pop. of about 32,000. I suspect that 1:1000 ratio is the same in all UP counties.

MSP has outposts, too. Again, looking at HoCo, we have a single post (that could be closed any day) up in Calumet.

Very generally speaking, the local and sheriff's department seem to hire local people. So that doesn't bode well for your husband. Also, there is very little turn-over. LE jobs up here pay comparitively well with union protection -- not easy to come by north of The Bridge.

If you are seriously looking to the UP, it may be a good idea to look at Corrections -- at least this would provide a stable income until something opens at a PD.

[jeeg]

I also do not have insider information (just an inquisitive nature LOL) but agree with the above poster. If you were able to accept a corrections position somewhere before moving here and get established, you would probably have better luck getting an LE position.
Another thought is campus security at one of the universities but I wouldn't have a clue how much they pay??

[AndreaW]

Thanks so much for the suggestions!

[M TYPE X]

Try the Sault Ste. Marie area. I got my first speeding ticket in August, after 7 years of driving with the squeakiest of clean records.

Oh, the police do more than give out speeding tickets on deserted rural highways? I didn't know.