I am asking as a planning function of my life. I am going into the Air Force via the ROTC program and would like to get into law enforcement after that. The problem is I want to be a career "zoomie" as some people call us which means 20 years, which means 43 y/o at that 20 year mark. Now Iknow I could always hop over to the reserves and whatnot, but the pension isn't as good so I want to have as many years active duty as possible. The problem is every department I have looked up, mostly in Illinois, states that you cannot be a fresh police officer (non-transfer) past the age of 35. Any advice?

I'm not familiar with departments in IL, but there are many, many departments in other states that don't have a maximum age limit for new officers. I know at least three officers that didn't start their law enforcement careers until they were at least 40

MANY police departments hire new officers older than 35 even if they have never been a police officer before!

I'm sure that some do, but none of the departments in my area that I'm familiar with have a maximum age restriction. If you're not picky as to where you reside, you should have no problem.

My agency requires that you be less than 37 to be hired, but I also know of many departments that don't have max age restrictions. I wouldn't worry.

You can become an officer with lots of departments at that age

Don't sweat it. We just hired a 47 year old!

The cut off age in Illinois for a police officer is 35, BUT!
You can still become a peace office in almost any state in the USA with no cutoff age! You’ll still need to pass a physical agility test along with the written exam to become a peace officer, which is a Deputy Sheriff. That’s the way it’s now done, no telling what will happen in the next 20 years.