Ok im currently a police explorer with the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office. This is my senior year of high school and Ill graduate in June 2011. Now here's my situation, my goal every since I was a little kid is to be a police officer in my hometown of Jacksonville Florida. I joined the police explorer program to get my feet wet and I'd loved it and I also made Sergeant while in it. With the sheriffs office, there is a program called Community Service Officers which is for young guys and girls like myself who have an interest in becoming a police officer and have just graduated high school and are planning to attend college. Here's the run down of it, you go to the CSO academy train for about two months and you go out to the streets ride with a more experienced CSO for a while and then after that you get your own car with laptop, radio, etc. just like a real cop pretty much. Except your only allowed to handle traffic crashes, abandoned vechicles, etc. you know like non-criminal acts. Benefits of me being a police explorer is that I get a leg up over other applicants for this position and being in this the sheriffs office will pay for your full college education.
Now I have a decision to make because I was told by JSO recruiting that the next CSO class will not be held until early 2012 and I really cant afford to sit around waiting for that long. So I stumble upon AF Security Forces and its something im really interested in and I have done a ton of research on it as well so I already know what I would be getting myself into if I enlist. My question is do you guys think I should just wait and do the CSO thing, or should I go ahead and do Security Forces and possibly get a date to leave not to far from the day I graduate high school.
