Alright you asked for it so here goes
First and foremost i am only speaking for my area and have no idea about yours;
My department and most here dont require a college degree, however my department pays more if you have one(20 bucks a paycheck). Go do ridealongs with the different departments and talk to the officers you ride with. Try to ride a couple times at each with different officers. Young officeers have a different opinion and life views than seasoned officers, plus it gets your face and name known which will help if you apply. If you ride, wear nice jeans and sneakers and a polo (prefereably not a bright colored one with an undershirt, since most departments make you wear a vest.
Now for the part you wont like; Be prepared to lose friends, for what ever reason you tend to lose touch with folks that arent police officers and sooner or later you distance yourself from them. Sucks to be introduced to people as the cop. The pay usually sucks, people hate you until they need you and you get nothing but criticism from most. And try sitting down to eat a meal in uniform, "I dont mean to interrupt you but can i ask you a question", or "so there are my tax dollars at work", "hey bill they are here for ya", "I didnt do it".
Dont get me wrong i love what i do, but people SUCK!!! Youll even see it on this website from time to time. Cop shoots a dog to keep from gettin bit or whatever the case and people up in arms about id shoot the cop!!
Dont wanna discourage you just giving you a heads up on some of the crap we deal with.
Good luck with it.
