<p>Hi everyone, I'm new to CC and I figured I would try posting my first question. I'm a junior at a small high school in Ohio and was interested in pursuing a career related to public relations but within the law enforcement/government field. (Think J.J. from Criminal Minds for any fanatics like me) Making press conferences, dealing with citizens of the community, responding to major incidents, etc. Does anyone know what types of careers there are that pertain to this interest? Any specific job titles or job profiles I could research? Also was wondering what majors would be best for this field; recommending any colleges with good programs would be great also. I'm just somewhat lost in what to research or look for. Thanks everybody!</p>
<p>There are often public affairs offices within law enforcement agencies - it generally depends on the size of the agency whether they have a dedicated, full-time public affairs staff. Sometimes, as with the California Highway Patrol, their PAOs are actually patrol officers with added duties, but more often they would be non-sworn civilian employees.</p>
<p>If that’s your career goal, I would pursue public relations/communications-type programs, perhaps with a minor in criminal justice, and look for internship opportunities with various LE agencies. You’re looking at a pretty specific niche, so there’s not likely going to be any particular program that “specializes” in it.</p>
<p>I knew there wouldn’t be a specific program exactly, I was just wondering what it would be best to major in for this interest (PR/communications/criminology/political science even) and you seem to have answered this question. So would it be possible to start at city police department and eventually gain experience to work at a larger agency?</p>
<p>Based on what I have seen, the Public Affairs/Relations offices in LE are run by members of service, and it’s not an entry-level assignment.</p>
<p>Research the hiring criteria for many departments/agencies. It’s different for each department and type of policing. For example, federal agencies may prefer Computer Science/Electrical Engineering or Accounting backgrounds. Local agencies may require a certain level of education but have a long (waiting) hiring process.</p>
<p>One of the best preparations for a career in law enforcement is military experience as a commissioned officer. You should take that into consideration.</p>
<p>Federal agencies, in general, do not have sworn LE officers doing PR/PAO duties. That’s because LE is, in many cases, just one part of the work done by a broader agency. (Think Customs and Border Protection, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, etc.)</p>
<p>Also, the GS classifications for LE and PAO work are totally different. LE officers have a separate payscale and retirement system (that are more generous than the normal GS grades) and therefore agencies would prefer not to pay someone LE money who isn’t doing LE work. There are exceptions to this - like the Border Patrol.</p>
<p>So are you saying if I went into PR I would just have to intern/look for jobs within government agencies but not necessarily expect to actually work with LE officers on a regular basis or have similar pay as them? Would it be better to become a cop, gain experience and then eventually gain enough experience to work in the media relations/public affairs unit? Sorry, I’m just kinda confused but this is something that really caught my interest and something I could see myself doing.</p>
<p>It depends on what you want to do. There’s not just one way to do it.</p>
<p>One path is to work as a field law enforcement officer for a few years, then attempt to move into the PAO detail positions. However, you should take into account that there’s no guarantee that you’d be selected for such positions. Having previous PR/media experience or education would probably help you compete for those slots.</p>
<p>If you’re not interested in getting a field law enforcement job, going through the academy, working a beat for several years, etc., then you can look for agencies that are hiring PR people directly. You wouldn’t have to just look at the federal government - there’s lots of state and local law enforcement agencies out there, too.</p>
<p>Also, for feds, the LE payscale is only (slightly) higher up to the GS-9 grade. GL-9 (LE scale) makes about $1,700 more than a GS-9 - $53,552 vs. $51,825 in the Alaska locality zone. Pay for GS-11 and beyond is equal for LE and non-LE employees.</p>
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Another thing to keep in mind that there might be a push towards the “pay band” system.</p>
<p>Either route would be okay with me, either way I’m looking to pursue a college education. I definitely wouldn’t mind being out in the field, it’s just my ultimate goal to intertwine PR somewhere into the mix. It all depends, I just wanted to know what studies in college would help me in the future, even if it didn’t matter directly at first.</p>
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<p>The majors that are in demand in the private sector are the same majors that tend to be in demand by government/law enforcement (especially at the federal level).</p>
<p>With that being said, a career in the reserves as a commissioned officer may complement your career in law enforcement. Do some research in to the ROTC/SMP program.</p>
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I don’t think so. The biggest banding experiment, the “National Security Personnel System,” was repealed almost four years ago and all employees on it have been moved back into the GS scale. The only major agency with “pay band” right now is the TSA. There is no significant political support for major changes to the GS system for federal civilian employees.</p>
<p>The NSPS was widely viewed as unfair and was actually proven discriminatory in a number of studies - white employees consistently got higher performance ratings and more raises than minority employees, for example.</p>
<p>As long as the Democrats control the White House, I don’t see any weakening of the GS system being allowed. I don’t think the GS system is perfect, but the NSPS experience showed that “pay for performance” as applied to government systems has significant, perhaps intractable problems.</p>
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I thought about this as I was reading an expose published today on a NJ Senator potentially being investigated by the FBI for involvement with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic.</p>
<p>[Emails</a> show FBI investigating Sen. Bob Menendez for sleeping with underage Dominican prostitutes | The Daily Caller](<a href=“http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/25/emails-show-fbi-investigating-sen-bob-menendez-for-sleeping-with-underage-dominican-prostitutes/3/]Emails”>http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/25/emails-show-fbi-investigating-sen-bob-menendez-for-sleeping-with-underage-dominican-prostitutes/3/)</p>
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<p>That’s not entirely correct. The NSPS pertained to the Department of Defense. The majority of FLEO aren’t under the DoD.</p>
<p>While what you mentioned above is a problem with “pay bands”. The downside of the GS system is that outside of FLEO, it’s extremely hard to recruit entry-level hires with critical skills (ie. Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, etc.). The problem is that even if you could (and you probably can’t) bring them in as a GS-10, a defense contractor pays nearly 25k/year more. This sentiment is pretty pervasive when you read reviews on Glassdoor about the NSA.</p>
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The largest federal LE agency is CBP/Border Patrol, which is GL/GS.
The second-largest federal LE agency is the FBI, which is GL/GS.</p>
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The GS classification system that rigidly lays out which jobs can be which grades does need to be made much more flexible. That said… I don’t think you can fix the problem unless you flat-out increase the GS payscale or go back to having supergrades. There’s lots of federal employees doing work other than CS/EE who are quite underpaid for what they do vs. the private sector. Hell, even SES only tops out at $230,000.</p>
<p>(I’m currently a GS-0499-05 with the USDA/FS, transitioning to GS-1035-09/11 this summer.)</p>
<p>Stop. Don’t get all your info on this site. I am a law enforcement officer and have been for 24 yrs. working in a state police dept and federal task force on the southwest border with many different agencies. Some depts like mine have a full time public information officer chosen from applications taken from sworn officers usually having some time on. Federal agents, BP DEA etc do start around GS9 however they are a different pay scale than non-law enforcement, ie gun carrying employees. They get AUO pay, which is a premium for availability of about 20%. Also most DEA guys I worked with were GS11 by the time they were off promotion. If you are assigned overseas there is additional money. The Public information officer at DEA when I was there was a seasoned agent, GS13. He had a masters degree in English and was working on a law degree.</p>
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Yes, but again, the pay scale is not <em>that</em> much different at the upper grades. GL-9 is only $1,700 more per year than GS-9. The special scale ends at GL-10. GS-11 and above is exactly the same, sworn or non-sworn.</p>
<p>And yes, some agencies have AUO pay - not all do. Depends on the duty station - I have heard of some NPS LE folks who don’t get it.</p>
<p>FLEOs also have a different (and better) retirement package - under 6c, with mandatory retirement at the age of 57.</p>