LA or SAN DIEGO????

[maminel]

I'm thinking of moving from the east coast to so cal....having a hard time choosing which place is better in terms of salary, coast of living, etc. anyone with knowledge of these area please help. thanks!

[pkagel]

LA has a lower COL but marginally so. It is all quite expensive. Make sure you check out the suburban depts. I have a pretty good list of dept's on my site along with academy study notes, ect. SDPD itself is in quite a pickle due to the budget.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CABasicPolice/

[willowdared]

Originally Posted by maminel

I'm thinking of moving from the east coast to so cal....having a hard time choosing which place is better in terms of salary, coast of living, etc. anyone with knowledge of these area please help. thanks!

????????

http://forums.officer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39376

http://forums.officer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39535

http://forums.officer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39544

http://forums.officer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39645

It's always good to have LOTS of options, but get your degree first, and make sure all your finances are in order, and that your record is clean. You still have to get thru a background check.

[GB0610]

After having lived in both cities, it really is a no braininer. I grew up in SD and started my LE career in LA. If I ever move back to LA, it will be too soon. There a FAR TO MANY reasons to list why LA is a bummer. SD is a great city, America's finest, to be exact. That's why everybody moves there.

You will have an easier time getting hired by a PD while living in LA county simply because there are more departments. But if you are already on the job or have a impressive resume, you should find it not to diffcult in either place. But that obviously depends on you.

The cost of living is just about the same. You'll be hurting either way.

Simply put, I see no reason why anyone would like LA over SD.

PM me with any specific questions...

[nobody33]

I'm from So cal and recently had that same problem. The pay in San Diego sucks, for pretty much all the agencies. I've decided I'm ok with that. San Diego is a better city, it's a "red" county politcally, and the departments still let cops be cops. LA agencies, and OC agencies have wierd knee jerk policies in many cases, and all have a lot of pressure from the ACLU, which SD doesn't have so much of.

[irishlad2nv]

Originally Posted by maminel

I'm thinking of moving from the east coast to so cal....having a hard time choosing which place is better in terms of salary, coast of living, etc. anyone with knowledge of these area please help. thanks!

Wow, I thought you were looking at Vegas, DC, VA....and now you are asking about LA? Why not apply where you actually reside so that you have some basis of the salaries, cost of living, etc...just a though and my .02

[DOAcop38]

Originally Posted by nobody33

I'm from So cal and recently had that same problem. The pay in San Diego sucks, for pretty much all the agencies. I've decided I'm ok with that. San Diego is a better city, it's a "red" county politcally, and the departments still let cops be cops. LA agencies, and OC agencies have wierd knee jerk policies in many cases, and all have a lot of pressure from the ACLU, which SD doesn't have so much of.

An L.A. victim forever! San Diego is where people from L.A. go to relax for a weekend;other than that the Cost of Living is actually getting more expensive in SD than L.A. And yes the pay sucks-thought about Oceanside PD to "start over" back in '98 ,but realized it would be like going back to '92 in terms of pay for me! Also , I currently work with (4) former SD area officers (1) from SD City PD, (1) from SDSO, (1) a former SD Co.Marshal-agency absorbed into SDSO (1) from Mesa PD; with the exception of the former SDSO guy,everybody HATED the "politics" of San Diego, and the low pay. San diego city PD is the worst of the lot and won't change.The only people "taking care of business" in San Diego area are the Sheriffs and CHP-have visited regularly,even watched as two SDPD bike officers LET some girls fight it out in the street in the gas lamp district outside a club- reason? They felt that the two "combatants" would soon stop,and didn't want the crowd to accuse them of excessive force! Other than the hen pecked LAPD, you'll get more action, and better pay here in L.A. County; if you want cleaner suburbs ,Orange co.agencies, and if you want the sticks,with a few meth heads,plenty of space and cheaper homes-try San Bernardino or riverside counties (San Berdoo and Riverside are "cowboy" locations where you can still layeth the "smack down" if you don't like what the suspects are doing!)

[willowdared]

Now is NOT the time to consider SDPD - not while the financial situation of the city is in disarray.

[nobody33]

I work for SDPD, the pay is not very good but top step is still better than a lot of agencies (including SDSO).

Judging a whole agency on one incident you saw from the Gaslamp bike team is a little harsh, every agency has isolated cases of poor line supervisors. As for Inland empire agencies being cowboys, I sure didn't see that when I worked there for 3 years. If fact the agency I worked for there (4th largest) was micromanaged to death, and RPD was/is on a DOJ consent degree (tiesha miller). RSO is good though. SBSO had siginificant jail time and crappy pay though. SDSO and CHP are both squared away agencies, if you don't mind working courts and traffic, respectively, not my thing.

As for the financial situation, yeah it doesn't look good for several years, but public safety will likely be protected, and there is a strong POA here.

San Diego and LA have totally different cultures, SDPD is very laid back compared to agencies up north.

I would agree with you about crime rates, having worked in the 909 and now SD, the crime here is nothing compared, that's county wide. It's like one big pasadena. Even southeast/spring valley (ghettos) are safer than many areas in areas from where I was at.

As for the guy who hated SDPD, sometimes people just don't like it, and back in the day those issues were more prevelant. Some people just fit different agencies well for what ever reasons, I did a bunch of ride alongs to find out where I wanted to be. Inluding a couple in the IE and LA area. I loved Pasadena police, but they don't have 3 at 50.

[Fuzz]

There are couple of different mind sets to getting hired. The first is pick an area and apply to all the agencies until you get hired.....get your foot in the door and then lateral later to the specific agency you want to spend your career at. The second is to pick the agency you want and keep applying until that agency hires you. This could take quite a while though.

When I first started applying I thought I knew which agency I wanted and kept applying with them.....came close but never got hired. Then I got smart and started branching out four years ago.....got picked up right away with another agency. Turns out to be one of the best decisions I ever made......I love where I am working, the department is expanding rapidly with a lot of room for promotion and collateral duties, the city is very financially stable, we just negotiated a great multi-year contract and I would have missed it all if I had kept applying with just one agency. There are a lot of good agencies in San Diego county and thats where I would stay, but I haven't had much exposure to LA work conditions. If you truly are considering moving out to the west coast start applying to multiple agencies in both counties and see what opportunities open up for you.

[pkagel]

Take a few ride alongs and see the style of the different agencies. Agency style differs greatly even in agencies that border eachother. Pay is only one small part of the equation. As far as places to live, you'll have roomates, a wife that works or be commuting from the IE, no two ways about it.

[willowdared]

It's still really expensive to live here.