relocating for troopers

[pac]

I found out that the Highway Patrol/State Troopers are looking for trainees and am thinking about applying. They do say that a willingness to relocate is neccesary. Anyone know how serious they are about that? My daughter is here and I can't leave her, and I also have a family farm that needs some of my attention. That's probably going to be a deal breaker for me. Anyone know if that's truly a big deal to them or if it's just a way to find people with the most interest or something? Thanks.

[Washingtonian]

I can't speak for KS specifically. But based on other states, I'd say they're very serious. When you're new, you'll have to go wherever in the state they need you. When you get some seniority, which could be a couple years or many years, you can go pretty much where you want. Or you could luck out and live in an area where they need people right now. But you probably wouldn't know til you graduated the academy.

[Chiller]

Here in Maryland...Troopers pick 3 locations and will be assigned to 1 of them.


This is what a recruiter told me so depending on where you live this may be far away or may be not. Save to say in Md. it's not that bad.

[SlowDownThere]

it's not uncommon for new Troopers to be assigned over 300 miles away at first. Imagine, living in Buffalo and getting assigned to Long Island (an 8 hour drive, depending on city traffic). Guys commute via Jet Blue (seriously)

Same happens when you take a promotion too. It sucks.

[L-1]

A willingness to serve where assigned is usually a minimum requirement of the job and rookies primarily go to those areas having the greatest turnover. For example, new graduates from the California Highway Patrol academy usually find themselves assigned to the Los Angeles or San Francisco Bay Areas.

Talk to your SP or HP recruiter and find out where most rookies get assigned and then decide if its close enough to home to meet your needs.

[pac]

Thanks guys. I called them too, just to get their take on it, and they said they're fairly serious about it but said a lot of the openings are in my area. They're going to send a info packet in the mail and I guess I'll just cross that bridge when I get to it. Thanks again, if any KS guys have any input I'd love to hear it too.

[VSP_Troop]

I recently graduated the academy for the VT State Police and we were told to pick three baracks and write a brief summary of why we chose that particular one. Some guys who had houses and familys and were from VT were given an assignment that included their hometown. Others with no real reasons were shipped off to wherever needed.

[pac]

Really...? That's interesting, an essay on why you should be posted to a certain area. Thanks, maybe I'll give then another phone call and ask if they have anything like that.

[NBW791]

Here's how KHP works:

In your final interview during the hiring process you fill out a sheet with your top three county choices. You also sign a thing saying you understand that you can be moved anywhere in the state for the good of the patrol and that you may train in a different county than you will be assigned.

When you get your conditional offer of employment a couple weeks later, the letter tells you where you will be assigned. That way you can know BEFORE you even accept the conditional offer.

For my class, we were about 16 LT's short in the state, so I didn't know where I was going until about half way through the academy (I think it was week 10 or 11 of 22).

Also, in my class of 12 recruits, three of us got our first choice, three of us got something we can live with and the other 6 got royally screwed over. They're surviving, but definitely NOT their first choice.

I'm fairly new on the patrol, but from what I hear and see, they don't move you around unless they REALLY need to. If you discredit yourself (i.e. lying in court) and can't win a case in your county court, then they might move you so you will have a chance elsewhere.

Every year, I think maybe twice a year, they put out a "Make a wish" list. You can put in for the available counties and hope you get it. The Patrol will pay for your moving expenses in that case.

They also put out "Voluntary Transfers", which work the same way, but you have to pay for your own moving expenses.

You MUST live in the county you work in, with the exception of the Kansas City area. They allow you to live in one of two counties since you patrol both.

Some places out west you are assigned several counties but still must live in a specific "home" county. One of my classmates patrols 8 counties in northwestern Kansas.

The KHP is a great place to work. I used to work for a city PD in the KC area before getting on with the patrol and it is SOOOOO much better being a trooper. The freedom is unreal. Being treated like an adult is great! Having my own patrol car is another awesome bonus.

Don't let anybody tell you different....we're much more than the old fashioned "tail light chasers" we used to be called back in the day.

If you have any other specific questions, PM me and I'll try to help.

-Nick-