r/lapd

Hey guys. Just signed the conditional offer for my dream department today. I’m beyond happy and grateful to be in this position. To all of you who have helped me on this journey with all your input under my posts has been so helpful. I just want to thank everyone in this Reddit for all their expertise and great advice. I got into the department I first applied for and they will be sending me to the Orange County sheriffs academy to begin my journey. Any advice on what I should be doing in the meantime would be helpful. I don’t start until November. So any tips on what I need to be doing, studying or anything in general in regard to the academy like or shoes, gear, dieting tips. Thank you all and I’m so excited to begin my career in law enforcement

I’m seriously considering becoming a police officer, but as a mom of 3 kids, I want to make sure I’m looking at the whole picture and not just the career itself.
For anyone who is currently a police officer, has been one, or has a spouse/parent in law enforcement:
What questions should I be asking myself before making this decision?
Some things I’m thinking about:
• How realistic is the schedule with 3 kids?
• How often do officers actually work nights, weekends, holidays, or overtime?
• How much control do you have over getting day shift vs. night shift?
• How long does it typically take to get a more desirable schedule?
• How difficult is it to take time off for your kids’ appointments, school events, birthdays, etc.?
• How does the job affect your marriage and family life?
• How much does the job affect you mentally when you come home?
• How often do you miss family events because of work?
• What happens when you have young kids and your spouse also works?
• Is childcare a major challenge?
• Is the pay worth the stress, hours, and responsibility?
• What are the biggest benefits people don’t realize come with the job?
• What are the biggest downsides people don’t talk about?
• How physically demanding is it after the academy?
• What opportunities are there to move into different assignments later on?
• If you could go back and choose again, would you still become a police officer?
I’m especially interested in hearing from parents in law enforcement. I’d love honest answers — the good, the bad, and the things you wish you knew before starting.
I’m trying to make an informed decision that works not only for me, but for my kids and my family too.

I’m 30 and planning to move to Los Angeles from London. Currently awaiting my visa decision. By the time I move, I’ll have nearly 10 years’ service with the London Metropolitan Police.

My experience includes frontline response policing, public order, intelligence development, and fugitive/manhunt work. I also have a BSc in Criminal Justice and Criminology.

Because Im basically restarting my career in the US, my biggest priorities are pay, pension and benefits. I’m trying to make sure that taking a significant step back in seniority/service is financially worthwhile for me.

Career opportunities are also important to me. Longer term, I’d ideally like to get back into intelligence-led investigations, locating wanted offenders, fugitive/manhunt work, surveillance or similar investigative roles.

I’m currently looking at LAPD, but also departments such as Burbank, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Long Beach and potentially LASD. I have done a couple ride alongs with the LAPD.

For current or former LA officers:

Would you choose LAPD over the smaller LA-area departments?

How realistic is it to move into Detective/intelligence/fugitive-type assignments relatively early if you already have substantial policing experience?

Does previous overseas police experience actually carry much weight once you’re in?

Are there other LA-area departments you think would make better use of my experience and degree?

Taking pay, pension, benefits and career opportunities together, where would you apply if you were in my position?

Thank you for any advice, I really appreciate it.

Hey everyone,

I’m 22, recently graduated college in Southern California with a bachelor’s degree, and I’m starting the law enforcement hiring process.

I’m single, have no kids, and don’t mind long hours, overtime, weekends, or holidays. I’m mainly looking for a department where I can gain solid experience and build a career.

So far I’ve applied to LAPD, LASD, and Beverly Hills PD. Beverly Hills seems like a great agency with strong community support and excellent pay, but I’m curious if the city being relatively quiet ever makes the job less rewarding from an experience standpoint.

I’m also interested in Ontario PD when applications reopen and have been looking at Glendale PD.

Based on those departments, what would you recommend? Are there any other LA or Inland Empire agencies that you’d strongly suggest I look into?

Hello, out of curiosity, how long was your guys' hiring process overall? If you can, give me a short bulletin point summary of your guys' timeline (additional thanks if you include why your personal timeline was that length~)

I am currently going through the process and the initial stages were super fast. Applied June 30th and got scheduled for the written exam the next day, and the PAT the weekend of the exam as well. After passing, within 3 days, I was scheduled for an interview (which I passed) and got an email that I have the polygraph test next; since the email I have not received any contact nor news about it. I was wondering if there were problem on my end so I called to see if there was anything I needed to do, but they just told me I am in the personal history process. However, I thought they only look over it to see if it was all clear for the polygraph and upon passing the test that they do the investigation. Or am I misinformed? Any tips regrading the PHS/Polygraph/Medical scheduling process would be helpful. Thanks y'all!

Hello all. I graduated with an MS in Forensic Psychology hoping to become a forensic psychologist, but only completed about a year of my PsyD program before stepping away due to some personal struggles. Living in Southern California hasn't made things easier either. I need a job ASAP and I'm now looking into crime analysis as a path forward, possibly through a certificate program. For those already in the field, how did you get started? Is a certificate worth it without law enforcement experience? I'm unable to pursue a sworn police officer role due to a history of seizures, so I'm focusing on civilian investigative and analyst positions instead. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Does anyone know if the panel interview is now online or is it in person? I’m hearing mixed answers from people. Just finished my PAT waiting for the next step

Will dabbling in party drugs before age 20 (now almost 29) be a disqualifier

Hello I’m 21M and I’m 5’10 240lbs and I’m worried that il be disqualified from joining the lapd about the weight requirements, I’m pretty active though I can consistently run 5k’s and my fastest mile was around a little over 8min(I know I can get it faster iv been running for about a month) I’m just wondering if they would hire someone who can pass the physical exam while still being overweight thanks in advance 🙏

Hello Iam currently in the process for both of LAPD
And CBP.
For LAPD Iam right now at the background investigation.
Same thing for CBP
I have clean record and clean credit score
Iam a bit worried if i get accepted, I won't make it through the LAPD Academy.
For people who have experience, should I go for a federal job?
Or city job with LAPD?
Thank you

I got out of the army back in November of 2025 after ten years of service, and was hired by a large department in south Florida. I was super excited and happy to be hired by this agency. Unfortunately, after making the move and getting started in the academy I felt very out of place and very overwhelmed by the lack of enthusiasm from my fellow class mates. Don’t get me wrong there were some really good dudes, and my training staff was phenomenal. However, the majority of my class was a lot more interested in the prospect of having a six figure a year job than they were being cops. Things to me that seemed simple like showing up to work on time, showing up physically prepared, and not complaining about a job that you willingly signed up for were not so simple for them.

Getting into the 4th month of the academy these feelings were magnified as it felt as if my class mates were not getting better, in fact it felt as if they were getting worse. I came to the conclusion that I had made a mistake by choosing this department and decided that I was going to resign. I did just that, what came after informing my training staff that i wished to resign was shock and disbelief. I had one of the higher GPAs in the class, and had the highest fitness scores, and just an overall i want to be here attitude. After some efforts to convince me to stay, they accepted my decision and allowed me to leave.

Fast forward to today, about four months later, I still want to be a cop and still want to work for a major agency and I am in the beginning stages of doing my homework on the agencies that I am considering applying to and I’m looking for some advice since LAPD is on the top of my list.

1. How will LAPD look at me considering I resigned from my previous position? Will they look at me as a whole person and take into consideration that spent a decade in the military and just ended up with a department that was not a good fit? Or will they just see me as someone who’s going to waste their time?

2. About how long is it taking a motivated applicant to go from application to starting the academy

I guess those are really my only questions that I can think of at the moment. Any and all advice would be appreciated!

Does anyone know whats the lateral process look like from LAPD to a different agency like Irvine PD or Beverly Hill PD? is it hard to lateral out?

Lately I’ve been thinking about how our communities view law enforcement especially after hearing about an officer who didn’t make it home.

It made me stop and ask myself a real question:What will it take for us to shift the way we see police?

Somewhere along the line a lot of people started assuming every interaction with an officer means danger.

But officers have families too. They step into risk every single shift, not knowing if they’ll make it back home.

That’s real.I’m not ignoring the fact that some people have had bad experiences those conversations matter. But at the same time we can’t pretend every officer is out to harm us.

Most are just trying to do their job and keep the community safe.

So I applied and got selected to do expedited testing on Aug 30th but I’ve also been applying to other departments around Los Angeles. I’ve been getting emails already from 2 other departments to schedule the PELLETB testing before my LAPD one but my question is do I hold off on those and wait for the LAPD one or how would it work if I attend the testing for those other smaller departments.

I have my expedited testing Aug 30th, anything I need to know so I can prepare ? How much do they make us run? How many push up ? All that stuff would be helpful