Careers in PR/Law Enforcement

polarscribe
Sun, 27 Jan 2013 18:25:26 +0000

It depends on what you want to do. There’s not just one way to do it.

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.

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.

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.