Call the departments that you are interested in and ask their recruiters. Every agency has different procedures and timetables for their hiring. There are agencies that will hire you and then will let you go into a later academy class once your degree is finished. The vast majority of agencies won't do that though, and will expect you to start the academy when they tell you to, since they hire only one class at a time.
Normally the larger agencies publish hiring schedules that tell when the hiring process begins for each academy. For example, if you want to go into the Indianapolis PD's Jan 04 academy, you have to put in your pre-application form by the end of this year. Columbus has such information available on their website, at <a href="http://www.columbuspolice.org" target="_blank">http://www.columbuspolice.org</a>
You can also look at the various Police Corps programs. They will take you on while in college, pay you up to $30,000 for tuition reimbursement, and help you find a job before you graduate. The only thing there is that you have to spend four years with the agency that hires you.
<small>[ 11-28-2002, 06:42 PM: Message edited by: PatrickM98 ]</small>