This thread really resonates with me. I am retired military. After my military career I started training with at a university with an aviation program. During that time I applied to a Police department for the heck of it, since it was something I always wanted to do. Low and behold, I was hired, so I decided to go to the academy. I finished the academy and worked the road for a very short time. I started getting the itch to fly more often and left LE to go back to flying. Over the next year following my LE departure, I finished my 4 year degree, got my CFI/CFII and am now a CFI at the school.
I am 40 now and have been hired by an airline. I and am scheduled to go to training at the end of the summer and I can't tell you how many times I have gone back and forth on whether this is what I want to do, or if I want to get back on with LE.
I am married and my kids are getting older, my youngest is 17. No need for me to be home ALL THE TIME but I like it at home. I like being able to do odds and ends around the house every day.
I was a police officer in an area that has all kinds of things going on, so there is no shortage of boredom. In my few months on the road there were no shortage of homicides, burglaries, shootings, drugs, dui's, etc... Lots of fun and interest in a sick way I guess. Honestly it is what I prefer to just patrolling the streets of mayberry.
If the pay was equal I would chose LE in a second. The airlines aren't going to make me rich (now) but in a few years a comfy 6 figure salary is likely. The tradeoff is being away half the month. Is it work sacrificing the extra 60k a year to be home and working LE? To some maybe not but I also have a little retirement income coming in from the military so pay isn't my only motivator.
Maybe some of you folks can help a brother out trying to decide and shed some light on something I might not be thinking about...