Young members

[Cara]

I was just wondering if there have been any young members to go through Depot? I am 20, with an upcoming interview and fear that age will be my only pitfall.

[RyanSales]

Cara,

There have been a lot of younger members to go through depot. The trend in recent years has been for recruits going through to be older (in my troop there were a couple of people under 25 years old, but most were 25+). It is not uncommon to have several troop mates 40+ years old.

In your interview, age will not be the factor. Maturity and experience are what you have to address.

I'm not a big fan of younger recruits. I personally think the minimum age should be 25 years old. The old days of knock em up and throw them in jail are long gone. We are now expected to be social workers, counsellors, mediators, adjudicators, etc. While the training in Depot is some of the best in the world, it will only carry you so far. After that, you need to fall back on your own experiences and maturity to carry you though. Very young members tend to lack that life experience, and some struggle for it.

That being said, there are a lot of 30, 40, 50 year olds who have maturity levels below that of most high school students. So, I reference my above point that AGE doesn't matter at all. Maturity and experience do. If you are a 20 year old with a level head, learn from your experiences, have made a few mistakes and don't intend to make them a second time, you'll do just fine.

Here's how to balance our your young age in the interview (it's the same advise I give everyone going into the interview...but for younger applicants it's more important).

1. Write out on a piece of paper all of your volunteer experience, work experience, clubs and organizations you have been inolved with, significant relationships you've had, obstacles in your life, sucesses in your life, significant events, travels, etc.

2. Beside each of the items on the list, write out the positives and negatives. What went wrong on your trip to Mexico, what went perfect. Write out challenges you had, and successes. Write out conflicts with people, and how you resolved them. Write out your failures, what you learned from them, and how you expect to avoid making them in the future.

3. This is the important part. STUDY THIS LIST. Study it 10, 20 times. Whatever it takes have it engrained in your memory.

4. When you go into the interview, you will want to reference your examples to one of the items off your list. Answer the first question with the most appropriate item off your list. Then mentally scratch it off your list and don't go back to it. When you answer question two, reference it to another item from your list, and scratch it off.

The end result is that you answer each question, reference it to a real life experience/event in your life....AND THE KICKER...by going through your list and always answering with a different experience and event, you've just shown the diversity of your experience to the interviewer. You avoid the age old surefire way of failing the interview by answering EVERY question with the line "When I was a security guard I did......"

Good luck with the interview. I'm sure you'll do great!

RY

[Cpl Mike returns]

mIMHO ,I'm all for younger recruits if they are disciplined and are in a training program that stresses duty ,responsibility and has oversight.The problem I've seen recently with "older" recruits is that they tend to carry their OWN opinions into the job, and try to apply many foreign concepts,particularly from private industry, into police work-many times with mixed or poor results.Older recruits tend to "buck" the training system, tend to complain or be resistant to what they think are "unreasonable" demands being placed on them- younger people are easier to be molded,conform to the "fear factor" and are less likely to look for short cuts in work ,like their older counterparts. I work with a 39 yr old "rookie", that is lazy and arrogant as Hell- he barely passed probation, now has become a social "critic" and isn't trusted by many of the younger officers with more workplace seniority.( He's been caught bad mouthing fellow officers to ctzns and suspects , and does everything he can to get out of arrests)It goes both ways. bt to me( and I started as a Police officer at 22 yrs old- younger officers tend to be more dedicated to the job whereas older recruits are more dedicated to their personal lives and look at the job as a consistent "paycheck".And as much as I lament the "younger generation", they ARE smarter ,more mature, and more focussed than myself and my fellow recruits were 16 yrs ago ! the best thing that young applicant can do is stress that he is young,eager to grow up and learn in the "system" , offers his youth in terms of health ,strength and dedication, and the fact that the agency will get back its investment in him in terms of longer yrs of service,than many older,supposedly wiser applicants.Like every applicant, he needs to go in with a "winner" attitude,not only knowing the history and operations of the job, but what he has to offer and what has he done to prepare himself.

[kdivapplicant]

Hey just a word to the young guys out there, keep your head up and dont let anyone tell you, you cant get in or you are too young because its just not true. Let your expereince speak for itself and your attitude and you will be fine. Im only 20 and had no problems with the interview or polygraph and i just got a conditional offer of enrolment to be in Depot before the end of summer. I know a ton of guys in Depot now who are 20, 21, and they had the same thing told to them (your too young, etc). Keep your head and stay positive and it will work out for you. (Y)

[KDIVBRO]

Supposedly wiser recruits Cpl.Mike? I agree with lots of what you said in there but instead of stating the merits of each you go off on a tangent about "older recruits". Young guys need to come into the services eyes and ears open mouth shut just like the older guys. need to. A rook's a rook. But discounting life experience is a big mistake. You can be 40 with no life experience or 19 with a tonne. Age is just a number.

Although Ill give you the fact that young guys grasp onto foreign concepts better then the older guys. And for the recrod- im younger then average as well and had no problems with the process.

[cplmike returns]

KDivBro- we "all" have our opinions ,but I'm only saying what I've seen recently.Many of the young people I see applying are triyng to discover their place in the world whereas the older recruits tend to be their for the economic security! If I have a location that I want to jam up some "peds" who might be selling dope,I find that quite a few of the younger officers are ready and willing,whereas the older guys are looking at their watches and EOW,ditto for the older "rookies"(not all mind you, but I see ENOUGH of them doing it).Maybe I'm biased as I've been in L.E. almost all of my adult life,but I'm soo sick of guys trying to compare "when they drove a truck" to the difficulties of handling a D/V or being on a perimeter/containment and searching for an armed suspect.and at an active"39", it is often great to have a younger partner in the patrol unit than having to hear the Pissing and moaning of some married HACK that doesn't want to work nights,and huffs everytime you go out on a vehicle stop.I rode recently with a new female partner - she's 24 and was a former EMT; her EMT skills came in handy when we were flagged down regarding a transient geting stabbed near a gas station.but later when we had a traffic stop and the driver got "415", she was right there n the ground with me- had I been working with some of older "crybaby"rooks or vet. officers,we'd have been sitting i the station lot waiting for the dispatcher to call EOW, and that drunk driver would have been still out on the streets.There are issues both ways ,and the officer mortalities show this the rookies (1-5 yrs) and the vets (15-20 yrs) are usually the ones that die the most often in this business- the rookies don;t see the "warning signs" and the Vets " overlook them".....

[not guest]

So the ideal time to be on general duty officer is the 5-15 yr patch. If the older ones (vets) are bored, passive and lost their enthusiasm for it why do they stay in general duty? Why don't they go into another area like 'detective' or forensic, etc?

[CplMike returns]

some do,some try- some are in those non uniform duties.While i can't speak for Canada, pushing a patrol car down here in the states ,particularly in cities like Los Angeles ,can get OLD PDQ!After 16 yrs in patrol,I'm headin either for a DETs spot or hopefully,will be picked up in the next round for Sgt.anybody who tells you that "the old days" of street fighting are OVER,should get out of police owrk.period.Even in Small ,rural towns,you forget that you are a "target" in uniform, you'll role up on a busted taillamp viol ,thinking a "ticket stat" and you'll get a gun in your face.and i know very few coppers 40+ out "shaking the bush".And if you think a 50 yr old is capable of hanging with a drunk 24 yr old on a bar fight call, ask him how he( and now adays "she") feels the day after ! police work is very physical,and you FEEL the stress even when you are not in a confrontation.As you get older,your body just doesn't come back as fast in terms of recuperating.and as far as the older "burn outs"? they are usually the top of the seniority list,meaning they get the days off they want and the assignments they want,so why change ? I wich people would stop buying into the fanstasy that this is "just like other 9-5s"- it isn't.Those "cool "recruitment pcitures of YOUNG,healthy,smiling coppers? All actors of Dept Poster boys/girls-when was the last time you saw a graying male officer of older ,rounder female officer used to sell the job as one for older people? Age does provide wisdom in many aspects, but it also comes with embedded habits and tendencies( my divs trng has started with Krav Maga self defense tactics- you should have seen the resistance and lack of participation by the officers over 40-the same people who still want to go out on patrol!My opinions are my own, but I know what I've seen and experienced -I'm sorry but the max is 20 yrs in uniformed patrol(assuming you start btwn 21 and 25)-after that,you are pushing your "general" effectiveness.....