[TexKan]

Houston is primarily lookin for young cops........ thier wt / ht restriction is the same as the military. Pretty strict and there is no exception. Once you get hired the requirement drops but you have got to meet the criteria to get on.

Seasoned cops down here have trouble getting on - they pass everything but ht/wt. One officer finally dropped that 20 lbs and got on - they don't require a physical agility test - you just meet the physical requirement.

Galveston requires you run the seawall daily - bout 5 miles worth. Seasoned cops just are not gonna do all that crap.

That is one reason Houston has the hundred (yes hundreds) of vacancies. New cops from other states come in and they haven't seen what Houston can offer - money, lifestyle, gangers with a mission, and yep even jealous X's that BBQ thier girlfriends. Houston is a sick, sick place. Any cop without experience that comes down here needs just as much FTO time as you do up there. FTO time is spent no matter how long ya been a cop. My son has trained cops that have 0 to 20 yrs experience. Ya don't learn the streets from a book - ya learn it by ridin and learnin. It's a time consuming thing and it's tough to invest time and manpower into someone then have them leave the first time they get a chance. Course that' s what police work is tho - the bigger dept, the more challanging assignment, - this stuff just happens - it's not just Dodge it's happening to.