# Is this a true way to complete the full time academy?



## mschumann (Jan 26, 2008)

Was talking with a classmate of mine today and he gave me a good suggestion that I would like to run accross the board members here.

He told me that North Shore Community College's one year police certification program qualified a person to be sponsored from a chief of police to go to the full time police academy at your own expence. 

As explained to me, this is the process broken down:

- Complete North Shores police certification

- Find a chief of police to sponsor you for the MA full time police academy at your own expence of $2500 or so....

- GO to the full time academy for 16 weeks, and try to get hired to a non civil service department or a department in New England that would except the Mass full time academy.

I would like any feed back that anyone may have about this. As one of the many ppl in MA that is looking for a career in LE, this sounds like a very difficult but very good opportunity. If I were to pursue this avenue, I would have to do an extreme amount of saving over the next year or so to cover both the expence of the academy itself ($2500) and the expence of supporting myself for the 16weeks it takes to complete the academy. So this is a very big commitment and I would like the opinions of everyone.

Thanks


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## Guest (Apr 16, 2008)

Don't forget that you have to have health insurance, all of your gear, access to firearms and cruisers... etc. Other than that, good luck.


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## soxrock75 (Jul 26, 2004)

mschumann said:


> Was talking with a classmate of mine today and he gave me a good suggestion that I would like to run accross the board members here.
> 
> He told me that North Shore Community College's one year police certification program qualified a person to be sponsored from a chief of police to go to the full time police academy at your own expence.
> 
> ...


The full MPTC academies are all roughly 22-26 weeks long. They did offer an abbreviated 15 week academy last year in Boylston for those that possesed certain educational requirements.


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## wgciv (Jan 4, 2007)

There is some truth to this but I don't know all of the specifics. The idea is to have certain colleges offer this one year certificate. Most classes required for the certificate can be later used toward your associate degree. For those possessing the certificate, an abbreviated accademy will be offered. I believe the idea was adopted by the Mass Chiefs of Police. The shorter the academy.. the less it costs the department and the quicker these chiefs can put officers on their streets. There is no telling if this program will ever be implemented, or even get off the ground for that matter. However, you can't go wrong by getting the certificate because, like I said, the courses can be applied toward an associates degree.


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## SBU29 (Feb 4, 2007)

You don't even need the college to go to the full time academy. The trouble is finding a department that wil sponser you, if you know of one that will then you shouldn't have to take the classes just get them to sponser you.

Also note you will be waiting on stanby for that academy because fulltime hires get first dibs on the open slots and from what I hear from people that have tried is it is a big pain in the neck. Its a pain because you could be waiting for a long time and then out of the blue get told you can have one of the slots, so you change work scheduals get money together make all the plans to begin an academy... when the day before your supposed to start they call you and say sorry they let a last minute fulltime hire in your spot.

I know it sounds good and you'll do anything to get your foot in the door but just look into the process very well before you get more time and money invested just to be let down. I know there is more hurdles to get over than what I have mentioned.

Good luck


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## mschumann (Jan 26, 2008)

thanks for the insight. When it was first explained to me it sounded to easy and I knew that there must be hurdles.

In talking with other LE officers in the Boston Special's academy that I am in, they suggested looking into the VT academy or the RI academy and seeing if 1- They allow self sponsored canidates 2- If the Mass accepts those 2 academy's. Curious to know if anyone can shed some light on that.

Thanks again


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## Guest (Apr 24, 2008)

There is no straight transfer process for out-of-state academies in Massachusetts, but there is a process to gain an exemption;

http://mass.gov/?pageID=eopstermina...alcontent&f=mptc_exemption_process&csid=Eeops

That being said, that process is designed for experienced officers looking to relocate or move back to Massachusetts, not for people looking to bypass the MPTC standards.


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## mschumann (Jan 26, 2008)

I wouldnt say that I am looking to bypass the MRTC standards by any means.... i am just looking to gain as much training as I possibly can so I can be a compeitive canidate for a LE position. 

My logic behind these idea's is that the majority of the job posting's that I have scene posted are looking for canidates with a full time police academy. Since it is difficult to obtain that in Mass I was exploring other options of obtaining a full time academy.

Just trying my best to figure out how to do it! By next week I will be completed with the Boston Specials academy and I will be done with my EMT-B course. Still waiting on my LTC. Next on the things-to-do list is tying to get on a reserve unit and get the R/I or NERPI academy.


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## Big.G (Nov 28, 2006)

mschumann said:


> they suggested looking into the VT academy


I know a guy that was a police officer in VT and moved to MA. The PD he's working for would only let him work as a reserve. The PD did sponsor him to go to the full-time academy. When the next F/T slot opens up he will most likely be the one to get it since he is the only reserve that is full-time certified. There are no guarantees that we will get the full-time slot but it's about as good as it is going to get for him.

I'm not sure about the RI academy.

Based on what has happened to that officer from VT, go through the Reserve/Intermittent Academy. At least you don't have to go out of state. You can get on P/T somewhere getting your foot in the door.

If you can get the waiver from RI, then forget what I said.


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## mschumann (Jan 26, 2008)

The only reason why I mentioned RI is the fact that the RI academy is ALOT coser than the VT academy. I looked up the VT academy and it's atleast 3 hours away....

The R/I academy is definitly on my radar.....

Thanks



resqjyw0 said:


> I know a guy that was a police officer in VT and moved to MA. The PD he's working for would only let him work as a reserve. The PD did sponsor him to go to the full-time academy. When the next F/T slot opens up he will most likely be the one to get it since he is the only reserve that is full-time certified. There are no guarantees that we will get the full-time slot but it's about as good as it is going to get for him.
> 
> I'm not sure about the RI academy.
> 
> ...


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## GuyS (Dec 31, 2006)

Get the Reserve/Intemittent academy under your belt, it's a step at least. Cities like Hartford and sometimes Providence recruit on a regular basis. Try out for one of those jobs. You'll get alot of experience plus you can always come back to Mass if something comes up. We had a kid come from Hartford PD, his academy was waived by MPTC, however he did have the Mass R/I academy, so it can pay off.


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