I know at least in seattle you have to be a regular cop (patrol officer) first then apply to the aviation department. Then if you're lucky and are already a commercial pilot you might get a spot. I think they fly 182's as well.

Law enforcement or not, the aviation industry doesn't need "jobs" in which people work for free.

CO state patrol had 4 pilots when I was asking them some questions a few years back. 1 in GJT and the other 3 at APA. There was the 3-5 years on the ground as a trooper before applying and the other factor was that the hiring was done based pretty much on attrition. And the turnover was pretty slow...

I went some fly-alongs with them. That was fun stuff for a low time pilot because they let me fly most of the time.

Gotta do several years as a "grunt" in a patrol car before you move into an aircraft. A friend of mine has a son-in-law who's an Oklahoma Highway Patrol Officer flying their C182 between Oklahoma City and Tulsa. He spent 5 years in the car before moving into the aircraft.

out here in California you have to spend at least 1 year on the road and if there's an opening you can apply...but for retiring with 90% of your pay i wouldn't mind the hard work for a few years...

I just spoke with an OSP pilot about three weeks ago at my FBO. In the central Ohio area, they are based out of KOSU. He informed me that any applicants for pilots with OSP must already be troopers assigned to patrol duties (car/office/etc). They are also currently hiring based on seniority within the department as opposed to pre-existing pilot credentials as they did in the past. From my discussion with the pilot, you could probably expect to be in the car for at least a few years AFTER completing academy before moving into the C182s. If you make it that far, though, you can rack up some pretty substantial TT and make weekly stops at JP's for BBQ :-)

I started learning to fly almost 40 years ago, been flying continuously in one capacity or another since then; been a cop for 33 years; and been an airborne cop (helos and F/W) for over 10 years now.......... and I have advice for anyone looking for a job as an airborne law enforcement officer, and I don't mean this to sound harsh, but it is the truth:

You better want to be a cop first and a pilot second, or.....

(a) We don't want you;

(b) You probably won't make it through the "street time" to the point where you become competitive to get an airborne law enforcement spot. These are usually are highly coveted assignments; guys on my Dept generally have 8 - 10 years on before they are considered "competitive" for selection to our Aviation Unit. And ...

(c) There's a good chance you won't like the job if you get it.

If you are really interested in this line of work, feel free to PM me.

I haven't looked into it for years now, but a while ago the Maryland State Police hired civilian helicopter pilots to operate their fleet of dauphin helos. They were crewed with an EMT (maybe paramedic)-qualified, road-experienced trooper as their partner. The stated reason they hired non-cop pilots was that they wanted the pilot to focus on flying, not what's going on below citing some accidents years ago in which cops-turned-pilots flew into immoveable objects (towers, guide wires) because they were focused on the ground activity they were supporting.

Not sure if they still do that or if it's a good gig, but it might be something to consider. I believe they have fixed-wing aircraft as well, though I don't know if they use non-cop pilots for them.

MD still hires civi pilots. You pretty much need to be ex mil to get a helo job though. The mins are too high a FW guy trying to get in to pay for it. Not sure about FW positions.