When young cadets first enter the academy, their primary thought and focus in simply completing the academy; graduating successfully and earning their badge. Once they have graduated, then they enter that field training portion of their training and all they focus on is successfully getting “cut loose.” When you consider it, almost the entire first year of an officer’s career is dedicated to training and simply becoming a police officer approved to work alone. That doesn’t include any probation period that may start after they’ve graduated from the academy and that extends past the length of their field training program. But what happens after that? Where is the training or discussion about career planning?
Depending on the officer’s motivation and desires, they may be aiming for attaining rank as quickly as possible. They might just dream of being on SWAT. They might want to earn a place in the motor corps or in the mounted unit. Maybe they dream of being part of a harbor patrol unit. All of those can be rewarding law enforcement assignments but how long does an officer stay in one? At what point are you hindering your career by staying “stuck” in a specialty?
Being driven to promote as quickly as possible can be viewed as admirable or it can be seen as arrogance. The 35-year-old corporal who is supervised by the 30-year-old sergeant and then further supervised by the 28-year-old lieutenant may not have a lot of innate respect for either. After all, how does their experience compare to his? How do they rate having been promoted when he wasn’t?
Most agencies of any appreciable size have a promotional process that includes time on the agency, time in a given rank, fitness for promotion, minimum education requirements, testing for promotion and oral boards. First and foremost, if you want to promote you have to participate in the program; get your career goals in line with the process; know the standards for promotion and meet the goals on a preplanned timeline.
If your goal is to grow through the ranks, know the boxes you have to check on your resume to pursue each promotion. Know what the fitness standards are (if any) and make sure you exceed them. Know what the minimum education standards are for each rank and take classes to stay ahead of them. Know what your time requirements are both for on agency and in rank, and participate in the testing process for each rank at the earliest time you qualify.
Recognize that being reliable and demonstrating motivation are both required for promotions. Both of those work characteristics are measured throughout your career as part of your day-to-day work performance and should be noted in any annual or semi-annual performance evaluations you receive.
Every officer starts out in patrol. Know what the desired standards of performance are and insure that you meet or exceed them. Look for opportunities to perform extra duties—special assignments—and not just when it’s great overtime pay. Look for the opportunities that will allow you to impress your chain of command and put you in the public eye.
Remember that the best you can do is make yourself as promotable as possible but that doesn’t guarantee promotion. There is almost always competition and the oral boards also play an impact on command decisions. All you can do is the best you can.
Then comes the question: What if I really like the assignment I’m in and I don’t want to promote out of it? This is a reality that happens in a lot of places. The corporal who is on SWAT and knows that if he promotes to sergeant he’s going back to patrol—so he doesn’t even test for the promotion. He intentionally stays where he is... and that’s perfectly okay as long as he makes that conscious decision. Many officers do this with special assignment units like SWAT, harbor patrol, mounted and more. And when they’ve been on the agency for 20 to 25 years with 15-plus of those years in the specialty unit they love, the decide it’s time to promote so they can increased the amount of their retirement checks. That is your final piece for promotional planning: understanding the link between your rank at retirement, your time in that grade and what the impact is on your retirement checks.
As you plan your career, know in advance what your goals are and proceed accordingly. Don’t be the 35-year corporal who complains about how he wanted more rank or thought he’d go further; who says someone held him back. Be aggressive but not arrogant in your pursuit of promotion.
