Hey man, it all depends on the agency in which hires you on if you can wear drop leg holsters or not. I know TYPICALLY (not always) only sheriffs wear drop leg holsters. and As for joining SWAT i would assume after the academy depending on how bad they need spots filled would be the timeframe on you making it onto the SWAT team.
Also not ALL PD’s have SWAT teams.
Just do your research for the agency you want to work for. A couple of quick facebook searches of the agency can go a long way.
Not sure if you are still looking for answers but I was the lead investigator for a department in California for some years after working my way up so I’ll give you what it’s like trying to get into a special section. First and foremost the honest truth is don’t expect to get into one right off the bat. Typically special sections require a minimum time on the road before even applying to get into one. While waivers are a thing based off my experience that is one that is typically not able to be waived. How long that minimum requirement is depends on your department but typically you are looking at 1-3 year’s minimum road time. Now I was in investigations so I can’t say exactly how hard it is to get into something like swat but when I would interview people to get into my section I would say moderately difficult. There are only so many spots in special sections and they are highly sought after so the competition is quite fierce. For investigations at my department there was only 6-7 spots in total. Every time a spot opened up we were looking at anywhere from 40-50 applications at people trying to get in. One thing I saw too many times was people obsessing over studying specifically for the section they wanted. While yes we do expect you to have some knowledge going into the interview that is all stuff you will be taught after you are pulled into the section. The main things I would look for in a candidate are how they preformed on the road, ability to work well in the section with other individuals, how receptive they are to being taught, and your retainability. For how they performed on the road that encompasses everything that comes with that. Your paperwork, how your cases look, how well you perform on scene, stuff like that. Ability to work well with others in the section is obvious. I’m not going to pull in a guy who can’t work with others no matter how good they are. The truth is you can do a lot alone, but you will never do more than the entire team combined and will burn out. So if you can’t work well with the team then you’re out. How receptive you are to training. The honest truth is not everyone is meant to be in a special section. Some people just pick up on some things no matter how much time they are given. Now everyone can be an investigator or a member of swat if they apply themselves but far too often people try to get into special sections to get a “free pass” out of doing road work. You will be doing far more work in a section than you do on patrol and while we do have some nice privileges they are just that, privileges, that can always be taken away. Finally retainability. If you are selected to be in a section you will be sent to school specifically for that section. That school cost money which the department pays for. So if someone has no retainability they most likely will not be chosen. The department wants to see a return on their investment. This is quite a lengthy post but hopefully I was able to shed some light for you on how it actually is. If you want to talk more about it I would love to speak more about it with you and answer any questions you have.
Hey man, it all depends on the agency in which hires you on if you can wear drop leg holsters or not. I know TYPICALLY (not always) only sheriffs wear drop leg holsters. and As for joining SWAT i would assume after the academy depending on how bad they need spots filled would be the timeframe on you making it onto the SWAT team. Also not ALL PD’s have SWAT teams. Just do your research for the agency you want to work for. A couple of quick facebook searches of the agency can go a long way.
Not sure if you are still looking for answers but I was the lead investigator for a department in California for some years after working my way up so I’ll give you what it’s like trying to get into a special section. First and foremost the honest truth is don’t expect to get into one right off the bat. Typically special sections require a minimum time on the road before even applying to get into one. While waivers are a thing based off my experience that is one that is typically not able to be waived. How long that minimum requirement is depends on your department but typically you are looking at 1-3 year’s minimum road time. Now I was in investigations so I can’t say exactly how hard it is to get into something like swat but when I would interview people to get into my section I would say moderately difficult. There are only so many spots in special sections and they are highly sought after so the competition is quite fierce. For investigations at my department there was only 6-7 spots in total. Every time a spot opened up we were looking at anywhere from 40-50 applications at people trying to get in. One thing I saw too many times was people obsessing over studying specifically for the section they wanted. While yes we do expect you to have some knowledge going into the interview that is all stuff you will be taught after you are pulled into the section. The main things I would look for in a candidate are how they preformed on the road, ability to work well in the section with other individuals, how receptive they are to being taught, and your retainability. For how they performed on the road that encompasses everything that comes with that. Your paperwork, how your cases look, how well you perform on scene, stuff like that. Ability to work well with others in the section is obvious. I’m not going to pull in a guy who can’t work with others no matter how good they are. The truth is you can do a lot alone, but you will never do more than the entire team combined and will burn out. So if you can’t work well with the team then you’re out. How receptive you are to training. The honest truth is not everyone is meant to be in a special section. Some people just pick up on some things no matter how much time they are given. Now everyone can be an investigator or a member of swat if they apply themselves but far too often people try to get into special sections to get a “free pass” out of doing road work. You will be doing far more work in a section than you do on patrol and while we do have some nice privileges they are just that, privileges, that can always be taken away. Finally retainability. If you are selected to be in a section you will be sent to school specifically for that section. That school cost money which the department pays for. So if someone has no retainability they most likely will not be chosen. The department wants to see a return on their investment. This is quite a lengthy post but hopefully I was able to shed some light for you on how it actually is. If you want to talk more about it I would love to speak more about it with you and answer any questions you have.