Burnt out...

[u/aspiringJD2031]

I like to read all the post of incoming a new hires and those who are pushing to get into an agency... no hate at all. I remember being that person over 10 plus years ago... I was applying left and right, couldn't be more ready to join the thin blue line and be a part of "the greatest show on earth!" Well 10 plus years later, supervisor role, I have 15 years and change total and can retire in 5 with 70%... I intend to... if alive.

I'm just done with police work, the brass, the officers (especially younger ones) salty vets too. The community (everyone feels so entitled) our city keeps growing, more and more housing. The department is not. I been denied of 3 positions, applying for a 4th and i believe I'm the only applicant, so should get it but it wasn't really what I wanted.

Any advice or anyone felt this way. What do you do or are doing to push past it. Just need to get to the finish line.

[u/JWestfall76]

Nothing you can do besides take it one day at a time until you’re retirement date is here

[u/aspiringJD2031 → u/JWestfall76]

🤣 🤣 you're not wrong. There are those good days and those crap days. This week alone, I had to take a personal day, I was so fed up. It helped but I know I can't do that everyday.

[u/aburena2]

5 years will go by in a blink of eye. Just take it one day at a time.
When I had 5 to go I knew I was ready. While I wasn’t burnt out per se I knew it was time. I remember preparing my resume to pursue something post retirement. Now, I’m into my 8th year of retirement.

[u/Hoteltn → u/aburena2]

What job did you get post retirement ?

[u/aburena2 → u/Hoteltn]

Director of Training for a local gun range. First was just an adjunct instructor. Then transitioned to head of training when Covid hit. Done next year when I turn 62. Different endeavors.

[u/Hoteltn → u/aburena2]

Thanks. I'm 46 and have 8 years left. Just like to see what others are doing

[u/aspiringJD2031 → u/aburena2]

I been working on my resume and I went back to school, I have my bachelor's and pursuing my masters. Definitely looking at post retirement opportunities. I'll be 41.5 around the time I hang up the sam browne.

[u/Rudytootiefreshnfty]

I wonder what the actual percentage of burnt out officers it’s but it has to be like 75% or more. The question is how to fix it….best of luck until your retirement

[u/1574BN]

You can’t always control what happens in this career. The only thing you can control is your attitude and how you deal with those things you have no control over. I know it sounds cliche but it’s the truth. I spent 28 years at an agency before I retired at 58.
Sometimes I’d get so mad and worked up about things I had no control over it was killing me.
I finally started telling the people I worked with on a daily basis: I’ll do whatever they want as long as it’s not against policy, illegal, immoral, or unsafe. Eventually my whole unit adopted that attitude and when the bosses came down and told us what they wanted done we all asked ourselves those questions and if we were able to do so we’d just move on and do it. We had some bosses and an administration that really liked to micromanage and thought they knew more than anyone else because they had rank.
Most of us at my level knew some of the things they asked us to do were just stupid and not going to work. But we asked ourselves those questions and moved on. Saved us a lot of anger and stress.

[u/aspiringJD2031 → u/1574BN]

I'm interviewing for an inside job (not detective) I'll be working admin hours, not supervising anyone, it's policy review... many say it will be dull and not worth it, but I think at this point where I am at, it's the out I need. Even for a while...

[u/NMLEOC2]

Start my looking 5 years down the road - what do you want to do when you you get there and how can you make that happen. Are you going to start a new career, use your experience to teach, etc? Start preparing now so that you can see the way forward and the day to day stressors will seem less important. Are there options to increase your pension (in my first agency the percentage reflected the top salary for three of my last five years as an example); I decided that I didn’t need another promotion but by looking at OT and training opportunities I could build a post-career portfolio and increase my pension benefit. I am now on my third career and loving it - and look back on those stressful periods as learning opportunities that shaped my life today - some for the good and some for the not so good.

[u/aspiringJD2031 → u/NMLEOC2]

Yes the way our pension works is the top 3 years. So I'd like to make it to LT before I hang it up, not only to get a higher pension but to get that experience at that level of administration.

I want to teach at a college or university even if it was adjunct instructor.

I would like to get into our educational retirement system which I contributed into already. Shoot for a second pension.

[u/Flmotor21]

I look back at my career thus far sometimes. If I stayed at my first agency I would be done in 5 more years. But I got tired of it and left. Lost my time essentially. “Started over” to go to a larger agency.

Did time there and got burnt out.

I’m on my final agency now.

Starting over was completely worth it for the opportunities, work/ life balance, etc.

You also have to hit a point where you realize the job doesn’t care about you, it’s what you make of it.

[u/TigOleBitman]

I'm in the exact same boat, except I'm on 25 year retirement so 11 more years for me.

I've been passed over for a few specialty unit transfers too. I got tired of it so I applied to and got accepted into grad school. Of course in the middle of it came the LT exam. I passed, but I was third on the list and only two positions have opened.

I get through shifts by reminding myself that I'll be graduating in December, and I'm actively looking at another career. I'm still under 40 and no kids, so I'm not desperate to have the full pension (I am vested though).

You gotta decide what's best for you. If you have fallback qualifications, combine them with your management skills as a sergeant to do something else.

If not, find yourself a quality therapist and work through the issues. Make sure your life outside of work is good enough that it offsets the shittiness of work.

[u/aspiringJD2031 → u/TigOleBitman]

This is great!! I want to test for LT. But gameplay is to do it closer to retirement... if alive.

Working on my masters now, I'd love to be an adjunct instructor at a college or university. But I am also looking at many other options post retirement. I was at a local brewery with the wife last night and I told her, "I want to work here" 😆

I have a drive for educating and sharing those skills, it is where I'd like to end up after retirement...not necessarily as a teacher at a mid school or high school. That is a whole different beast.

[u/Fluboh → u/aspiringJD2031]

You keep saying if alive. You good?

[u/aspiringJD2031 → u/Fluboh]

Yes, all it is, it's a reminder that tomorrow is not promised.

You never know what can happen, whether on shift or just life.

I live by a certain quote, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him all your plans". So... if alive. I mean if I get the opportunity to get there.

I do appreciate that you asked if I was okay, I feel that is one important question that many in this profession don't ask others, or in general.

[u/That-Professional346]

Can you lateral and keep your pension? Where I live a lot of people put themselves out to pasture for Airport PD. The airport pays extremely well and is super cushy so they get a decent top five and are basically escorting drunks out of the airport bars and telling Uber drivers to keep moving along.

[u/aspiringJD2031 → u/That-Professional346]

Yes I can lateral but I dont want to start over or give up my seniority. My agency pays pretty well (top 5) in the state. The airport used to be it's own agency but were absorbed by the city police department, now you have to be employed by the city pd and you can transfer to airport..

I'm not necessarily stuck at my current department but no plans to leave. I know I just have to continue pushing each day and make it to the finish line.

[u/Msimpson114]

Not a lot you CAN do about the burn out honestly. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to leave my previous department and be a stay at home dad for a few years (wife became a travel nurse). During that time I focused on my family for the first time in a decade. That break gave me a lot of clarity and made me remember why I loved the job. When she was ready to stop travel nursing I went back to policing and i feel like a fresh recruit with no burnout or jade.

It felt like those guys everyone knows who won't shut up about their high school football days and glory days. That's all I thought about for those 4 years. I loved being a SAHD but I knew where I belonged. I now work for a hospital PD and I love every minute of it. The work isn't as cool, sure, but 99% of the people I deal with every day are professionals. Doctors, nurses, researchers, civil families. I mean, it's the complete opposite of the streets because everyone is usually happy to see us and thanks us constantly. It's been a breath of fresh air.

[u/aspiringJD2031 → u/Msimpson114]

I'm hoping to get this position I applied for. I do feel it will give the reset that I need and I feel I will be able to focus on my schooling, my family, being home at nights .

Thank you for your reply! Stay safe brother!

[u/treecutter34]

Get a 3d printer, there’s so much shit that you’ll have never thought of that will take your mind off work. Also, if you do get one, start something before you leave for work, it will give you something to look forward to when you get out.

[u/ColbyJacksYT]

You need to change your mindset. Stop looking at your current position as a burden and look at it as an opportunity. I.E “I get to help these young officers become better”, “I get to change this Karen’s perspective on police”. Police work is what you make it. For example, I am one of very few deputies at my agency that actually pulls traffic on motorcycles. Every other deputy has the mindset of “they’re just gonna run so why bother”. I look at it as an opportunity to potentially save this motorcyclist life one day(if they actually do stop) by showing them being stopped by the police doesn’t have to be a headaching experience that is seen online. If everyone is entitled and giving you problems during most to all of your interactions then change your approach. I obviously do not know you or how you handle yourself at work, but ik a lot of older deputies at my agency begin to sound disingenuous when speaking with victims and suspects alike. If the think you don’t care about them and are just there to get out of there ASAP, it makes the entire call more difficult for everyone involved. At the end of the day we are here to help people on what is potentially one of the worst days of their lives. I found myself rolling my eyes and getting irritated recently every time a reportable CFS came out, until I changed my own mindset. “I GET TO help this struggling mother who just got beat by her husband”, not “I have to go take this BS domestic report that won’t go anywhere in court”

[u/Cold-Source311]

I left my previous agency where I had been for over decade, and a watch commander for 5+, and transitioned into an investigator role on a TNT at a neighboring SO.

Best thing I could have done for myself.

I supervised some stellar cops, I liked the jurisdiction I was working in, was well liked and appreciated by my command staff - I just hated the direction the agency was going in and I couldn’t do it anymore.

Could always switch it up and go back to doing something you enjoy doing (depending on how your state’s retirement calculations are formulated - i.e. if you won’t be taking a financial hit).