Orlando or Orange Cty Sheriffs

[E-man]

I posted this elsewhere on other forums and since there are a bunch of new good people here,
How hard is it to get the Equivelency of Training for Florida? Iam a cop in Pittsburgh area and interested in Orlando or OCSO. Any help I appreciate in advance,
Eman

[katiemh]

Not sure exactly if this will work for you, but most of the time, there's a 2 week crossover course that you can take in the Academy that will cover the high liabilities (DT, firearms, driving, legal.. I think that's it). Then you'll take the certification exam... that's about it.

Orange Co. SO might be a bit more difficult to get onto than Orlando, but I'm not positive. Ctryboy might have more info on that than me.

[sflcop]

e-man, as stated in the other forums, it is a 2 week course. Contact FDLE for cost and to ensure that we accept your states cert. Then you can start contacting agencies to determine which ones will hire you with your PA cert (assuming we honor it) and send you through the EOT class.

[cntryboy0531]

Orange County is easier to get onto than Orlando. However, I discourage most people from applying with Orlando PD. I have friends who work on that department, and the administration is VERY quick to throw people under the bus to please the general public and media. Orlando has excellent pay for the area, and overall good benefits, however, I've noticed more people trying to go county from city, than county to city when it comes to Orlando PD. And the administration issues..

County is a bit easier to get onto, and you put up with less bullshit in my opinion from what I've heard through friends that work on both departments.

[CO_Cop]

I worked for Orlando back in '89 as a Cadet, damn thats long ago. Anyways, there is a big pay difference between the two. You need college for Orlando, not so with OCSO. When went through the academy, FDLE evaluated my Military Police transcripts from Ft McClellan, they said that I only needed something like 30 hours to certify. Realized that this is before the mandatory State Certification test. They only available course was at Mid-Florida Tech for about 250 hours and they did all the paperwork for me to the FDLE. When I went through, there was people from Orlando, OCSO, Seminole, Winter Park ETC.. who already were working for them and they were paying for them to go to the academy. You can actually work without cerification for up to one year, at least that was the way back then.

Check with the FDLE and get your training evaluated. It might be easier than you think. Its been a long time since I've been in Florida, so you'll have to talk to people in those agencies now.

GOOD LUCK,

PAt S.

[cntryboy0531]

I worked for Orlando back in '89 as a Cadet, damn thats long ago. Anyways, there is a big pay difference between the two. You need college for Orlando, not so with OCSO. When went through the academy, FDLE evaluated my Military Police transcripts from Ft McClellan, they said that I only needed something like 30 hours to certify. Realized that this is before the mandatory State Certification test. They only available course was at Mid-Florida Tech for about 250 hours and they did all the paperwork for me to the FDLE. When I went through, there was people from Orlando, OCSO, Seminole, Winter Park ETC.. who already were working for them and they were paying for them to go to the academy. You can actually work without cerification for up to one year, at least that was the way back then.

Check with the FDLE and get your training evaluated. It might be easier than you think. Its been a long time since I've been in Florida, so you'll have to talk to people in those agencies now.

GOOD LUCK,

PAt S.

Yup, Orlando still requires a degree I believe. Orange County requires either a 2yr degree, 2yr active military experiance, or 2yrs of prior Law Enforcement Experiance. Or a combo of those to equal out two years.

I'd still recommend OCSO over OPD anyday of the week.