Thread: United States Capitol Police

Man, I just visited the US Capital Police's web site and their starting salary is $43,000, and then $50,000+ after 30 months, with this good salary and the relative ease of the job from what I have heard and seen on the board, why is the job so unnatractive? I mean, it has a K-9, detective, motorcycle, and other major units that a regular PD would have. I don't know if they have a Take Home Car Policy, if someone could please tell me that, but outside of that, it looks pretty good. Can anyone give some feedback?

I think the job is unatractive to board members because some of them have said they dont want a job where they will stand on a post like a security guard. You are right, this a good job. I am in the process and i dont mind having this job. Near the maryland area their getting many applicants. It is a good agencty to work for.

Yeah I live in Montgomery County, Maryland, right outside of DC, and the advatages are great. The pay looks good and I assume you get to enter alot of the special forces after the probationary period. I mean, the pay is real good. The best out of all the agencies in the area I think. $50,000 after 30 months is damn good. Also, no college degree required and great benifits. I would still want to do police work and moving around so I'll have to see about this.

DaLaw,
I've compared USCP to Montgomery County Police & would choose MCP. MCP has takehome cars, 4 day workweeks and you'll see more action, although the pay is obviously a little lower than USCP (although I'm not sure how the pay varies as you progress)

From what I've read & what I've seen from visiting the Capitol, USCP officers do a lot of standing at posts. Obviously there are special units but a regular police agency, like Montgomery County where, is preferable for me.

You are right on the money, what agency in marylan will pay you 50,000 after 30 months. probably not many.

Yeah but after waoh's comments and my own self denial but knowledge that it's a lot of post/security work, I am thinking of going with a more PD tradional force. Something like the US Park Police, Maryland State Police, or county in Montgomery. I mean, money isn't everything and if your not happy, then the money won't be too much to help you out even if it looks great. BUT think about it, with the USCP, I would essentially be an officer doing security and in an overall safer enviorment which is a plus. Hmmm, so much to compare...

A have a good friend who works for Capitol and all he does is security work he has been there for over a year and every special duty he has put in for he didn't get. He has been moved from shift to shift and now is in the Capitol on midnights last I checked. He does say the pay is very nice but pay is not everything. He has had many long BORING nights with this agency working security detail. I just think I would want a lot more out of being a cop like some action.

Echoing the above posts, the USCP do a whole lot of standing around. It is more like guard duty than police work. Yes, the pay is excellent, but the work is mind-numbingly boring. The reason it is so unattractive is becuase you don't do any police work! I worked alongside the USCP guys for two summers, and basically all they do is stand around and shoot-the-$hit with each other (and the cute interns, which are plentiful in the Capitol Building!). Anyway, they were all really nice guys, and I spent a lot of time talking to them about FLETC and the hiring process and whatnot. Most of the ones I talked with had college degrees, but they have a serious turnover rate. The last summer I worked there, tons of guys were leaving to become Federal Air Marshals, and a couple went DEA. The biggest problem with USCP is the politics involved with working for a bunch of Congressman. I remember there was a huge controversy when one of the officers, who was just doing his job, would not allow a representative to take his guests into the Old Senate Chamber because it was after hours. Well, the representative went ballistic, yelling about how the officer worked under him and whatnot, and how he was insulted that the officer would not let him through. I mean, the officer was DOING HIS JOB!! The fact is, each and every senator and representative is technically your boss when you are a USCP officer, so there is a lot of bureaucratic hassle that you have to put up with. On the other hand, if you do manage to get into one of the special divisions, like protective detail, you do get to see some action. However, the rank-and-file officers basically serve as guards. Like I said though, great pay!!

On a side note, here is a random fact that I can give you after working with them: Their standard-issue sidearm is the Glock 22 .40 with Speer Gold Dots. Also, I believe that they can carry off-duty in D.C., which is quite a privilege!

To Will,

How long did you say your buddy had worked for the Capitol Police?

Traditionally, and from what I've observed so far working LE, I've seen nearly no one that has a little over a year's experience getting special duty etc. Most of these folks just haven't put in their time yet. I guess what you define special duty as would make a difference, but he's still a newb (unless he's been in law enforcement somewhere else, but with moving to a new agency, he's still probably considered a newb with them too though. )

later

We have received a few USCP into our Marshal's office lately and their main complaint like stated before is that most of their work consists of standing security posts.

Having been to the Capitol and the House & Senate office buildings numerous times has given me the impression that USCP is not a great agency in terms of police work. I have no doubt about the validity of posts in other threads about the existence of specialized units. But what I've seen is officers standing at doors manning metal detectors, officers standing on the street blocking traffic or making sure pedestrians don't jaywalk, and officers who make sure the line waiting to get into a congressional hearing is straight (I thought that's what elementary school teachers were for).

As said, I know they do other things too but large chunck of the duties I've seen are security.

JUST REFERRING TO PROTECTIVE DETAILS, I ACTUALLY FIND THEM TO BE QUITE BORING TOO. WHETHER A U.S. PRESIDENT, FIDEL CASTRO (FOLKS FORGET HE WAS HERE), YASSIR ARAFAT (HIM TOO), ISRAELI PRIME MINISTERS, AND OTHER HIGH PROFILE OR "LOW PROFILE" FOLKS, THEY ARE "IMPORTANT" PEOPLE SO TO SPEAK, BUT IT'S STILL THE SAME OLE' THING, BODYGUARD WORK. IF THEY ARE STAYING IN A HOTEL OVERNIGHT AND YOU HAVE THE DUTY, IT'S THE SAME THING, STANDING FOR HOURS AT A FIXED OR SEM-FIXED POST WHILE THE SUBJECT SLEEPS. TRAVELING WITH THE SUBJECT IS THE SAME, EXCEPT THAT YOU ARE MOBILE. OVERALL, YOU ARE THERE TO PREVENT AN INCIDENT FROM OCCURING OR TO INTERCEDE WHEN AN EVENT OCCURS OR TO GET THE SUBJECT OUT OF THERE WHEN AN INCIDENT OCCURS-- GENERALLY SPEAKING, SUCH INCIDENTS DO NOT OCCUR. AFTER 8 TO 20 HOURS STRAIGHT I FIND MYSELF WITH SORE FEET, AN ACHING BACK, SORE/TIRED EYEBALLS AND IN NEED OF A GOOD SHOWER AND GOOD GRUB. HECK, MAYBE I JUST GET BORED EASILY.

My friend has been with the Capitol Police for 1 1/2 years now, he has no prior law enforcement experience. I know when he came back from FLETC he acted like he was a shoe in anywhere he applied because he is a federal law enforcement officer, needless to say he has applied to numerous departments and still hasn't gotten a new job anywhere.

I'm current USCP and on a specialty assignment (dignitary protection), I have special agent status and travel all over the country. I disagree with so much that was said in this thread. In no way is USCP perfect, but for someone to look from the outside at our department and make the kind of assumptions that some of you did is lazy to say the least. My best friend is Fairfax County PD and he does just as much BS as we do at USCP, in uniform or not. The post standing is only 50% of our department, but unfortunately it is what the public (visitors) see and assumptions are made.

We have nearly 300 special agents on a department of 1500 doing protections, investigations, etc. Apart from S/A's, we have numerous tactical teams, patrol officers, K-9, undercover, motorbike, etc. We have people assigned to the FBI terrorism task force, to liason with ATF, Marshals, and many other agencies. Non-specialty officers constantly make good lock ups. Someone one week out of the academy got a felony drug arrest and confiscated a sawed off shotgun during a traffic stop not long ago.

Anywhere you go, you have to be humble and "pay your dues." Paying your dues at USCP does not take long. In fact, I applied to ICE halfway through FLETC. I'm still in my background stage for ICE but I've already reached agent status with USCP. I still want ICE (to hopefully take me out of DC) but if I stay at USCP I won't be heartbroken.

Everywhere you go there will be bad assignments, if you can't be humble and spend a day or two out of the week on post over the span of a year then maybe USCP isn't right for you. If you can, you will probably be doing something effecting national security and of great importance very soon. Good luck if you choose to apply.

Well, I was at the Capitol Building earlier today (for the first time in about two years). It appears that the USCP have changed their uniform color from white to black, so they look pretty snazzy. Also, it came to my attention that there was a complete reorganization where the USCP merged with the Supreme Court Police and the Library of Congress Police (I think those are the only agencies) in order to simplify jurisdictional problems between the different agencies. From what I understand, they are now all under the leadership of the USCP brass, because the USCP is obviously the largest and most organized of the three departments.

Let me make clear that I never implied in any way whatsoever that USCP are a mediocre force. In fact, I believe the contrary to be true. In my earlier post, I was simply sharing first-hand observations as well as opinions from actual officers. I have tons of respect for USCP, I think they are agreat bunch of officers.

FYI: A couple of years ago (I don't know if this still holds true today) the USCP had the number one sharpshooting team in the country based on competition with other law enforcement agencies, including federal, from across the nation. Take that as you will...