Protective Services Careers

You rush into the burning building, with little to no regard for your own safety or well-being (okay, well you’re wearing protective clothing and taking all necessary precautions, but other than that…pretty reckless). With the cat you rescued from the tree under one arm and a fire hose under the other, you plunge heroically into the crumbling structure, blazing posts and beams falling all about you. With your third arm (it seems that way, anyway), you grab the small, screaming boy and rush him outside, placing him gently into the arms of his two weeping parents.

Then you head back to the station and clock out for the day.

So yeah…not your run-of-the-mill job. When you’re a member of the Protective Services, you have volunteered—well, all right, they pay you, but you got into this thing voluntarily—to devote your life to the safe-keeping of your fellow citizens, while continually putting yourself in harm's way. The one thing we can say is that you won’t need a daily cup or two of Joe to keep you wide awake. Crazed lunatics waving loaded firearms trumps caffeine any day of the week.

Considering the very little formal education that is required to become a police officer, firefighter, correctional officer or security guard, you’re paid quite well. Expect to bring in 45k-55k if you go the cop or firefighter route, a bit less (around 35k) if you’re spending your days in a prison trying to keep inmates in line, or even less (25k-ish) if you’ve got the night shift at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

One of the nice extras you have in this field is the possibility of hazard pay. They throw you a few extra bones when they know there’s greater risk of you coming back to the station with…a few broken ones.

You’re also looking at some fantastic benefits, again depending on the exact line of work. Bilingual pay, accelerated retirement pay, a pension, great medical benefits…the boys upstairs know how much you’re putting on the line…and they also know they need to make it worth your while. They might even toss in a few Starbucks gift cards to sweeten the pot.

So yeah, you could get killed. And yeah, as you’re making an arrest, you might be called a pig. But you’ll be able to sleep better at night, knowing that you’re out there helping to keep the streets clean and people safe.

Unless you’re one of those “dirty” cops, in which case you’re probably not sleeping much at all. You pig.

Careers In This Field