I plan on a having a career in law enforcement. While a degree in college is nice and may help you move along through the ranks, its not a required credential to be an officer. What is required are typically between 800 - 1,000 hours of training in the academy.

The salary can be different depending on what agency you work for. Some places start as low as $34,000 to $36,000 a year, and others start as high as $55,000 to $60,000 a year. As you gain more seniority, combined with a college degree and/or military experience, your salary will increase to a larger number.

It's a job that must be done all over the country in every city and state, so there's a lot of freedom in choosing where you want to work. As long as they're hiring you can work practically anywhere.

I feel like this is the career for me because it's one of the things I know best. My father's been a cop for twenty-six years so I grew up around it and have always known its what I want to do. I can't have a job where everything is scheduled and I have to sit at a desk everyday. I'd go crazy having to do that. In law enforcement, every day is different, and no matter what every day is a clean slate. Nothing left over from the day before that has to be done, you can just go and take what comes.

It's simply what my calling is, and I know it to be fact. All my life I wanted to be a cop, but I also wanted to be a Marine. In high school I was already in the Delayed Entry Program and was only weeks away from enlisting, but at the last second something happened and I realized I didn't want to wait four or more years to go to the academy. I wanted to go now. So, I listened to both callings, and chose the one that called louder. It's a decision I sometimes regret, but then I remind myself I only have about a year or so until I go, and that's how I know, its the career I was meant for.