BP exam

[Recession]

I am going to throw in my .02 cents into some of the previous posts. There is an old saying in law enforcement: "if they like you they will make fun of you to your face; if they hate you, they will make fun of you not only to your face but behind your back." In other words, in this job, law enforcement personnel bust peoples balls all the time, and when they do, they are looking to see what sense of humor you have but also see how thick skinned you are.

In the last several years, I have seen a serious sense of "entitlement" across the board in many law enforcement trainees that have been hired. Your first year on the job you are learning how to "survive" on the job and see if you have the fortitude to do this kind of work. Your training officers are pushing you to the edge because they want to see if you will break under stress; some have a power trip and are just jerks, but for the most part, most want you to make training because they know you will be backing them up in the future and you might be watching each others backs.

As a former PA, I can say that the job of Border Patrol Agent is one of the most dangerous jobs in law enforcement. You patrol many desolate areas where back up can be close or very far away. You handle large groups of immigrants where most are calm and adhere to your commands, but many times, especially if you work in San Diego sector, you get large numbers of deported prison inmates where all they want to do is fight and want to take that badge and gun and shove it up your a*s. Why? Because they want to make it across the border, and they have nothing to lose if they corner you and hurt you. Then you have the drug back-backers, and that is another story.

Many of us on this board want to help new LEO's/investigators make it through training and succeed in this job; you are the future of our profession and one day you will not be watching my back but replacing us. After all, all of us have a "shelf" life and eventually we retire and move on. So when some of us give new applicants advice based on previous experience, please adhere to that advice and take it in stride. It may not only save your life but save many of you grief as well.

I also will give one more piece of advice to most of you applying for Border Patrol positions: PLEASE watch, listen, and keep your mouth shut, especially in the academy. It will get back to your duty station, and some hard nosed PA from the "old" academy will make you pay when you get to your station. Yes, the Border Patrol Academy drastically has changed since they moved to Artesia in 2006; some of the crap we went through in Glynco and Charleston would not be tolerated today.

Respect is earned, not given. You sir, have earned my respect. I will keep this advice in mind while I go through the process. I will take it with me to the academy. I will live by it while on patrol.

[bobfried]

There is nothing wrong with my reading comprehension. My education has done me well, that is why I can argue off invalid reasoning with logic. But you seem to not be comprehending what I'm saying. All I have done is repeat exactly what is written on BP's website, which states that unless you have law enforcement experience, in order to qualify for GL-7 pay grade, you are required to have a bachelors degree with a superior gpa, 1 year of graduate studies, or law school. What part of that don't you understand and what part of that comes off as lacking sense?

I could care less who you or any other person in this subforum is. We are all just "people". Are you LEO? Better yet, are you BP? Well good for you. First off, I would like to thank you for serving the community and putting your life at risk to protect us. Second, lose the superiority complex. Just because you are LEO doesn't make you any better than anyone else here so don't try to use that to put yourself on top of a pedestal and belittle me.

I did not even see this part. Wow.

You have/had at least 1 former Agent and 3 current Agents talking to you in this thread. Try and figure out who it is you've been arguing with, this forum is so green it's practically a green house. This is where reading comprehension and a bit of research comes in handy, it's easy to figure out who someone is on a public forum.

No one is trying to belittle you or placing themselves on a pedestal. Replies have been to the affect that you need to read closely and understand what is being said and the implications behind each response. Every posts have been solid advice, even if it comes across as harsh to you.

[Recession]

I did not even see this part. Wow.

You have/had at least 1 former Agent and 3 current Agents talking to you in this thread. Try and figure out who it is you've been arguing with, this forum is so green it's practically a green house. This is where reading comprehension and a bit of research comes in handy, it's easy to figure out who someone is on a public forum.

No one is trying to belittle you or placing themselves on a pedestal. Replies have been to the affect that you need to read closely and understand what is being said and the implications behind each response. Every posts have been solid advice, even if it comes across as harsh to you.

As I mentioned earlier... on the internet, we are all just "people" and I could care less who you are. I listen to what is said, not who is saying it. If it is sound advice, I will listen and acknowledge, if it is bad advice, I will tell you so.

Again, you are putting LEO's on a pedestal. I respect all LEO's for what they do, but LEO's are not the absolute authority on information. LEO's are known for giving out incorrect and false information, not because they are dumb, but they are "people" like the rest of us.

I once had a COP tell me that all AR15s regardless of what configuration they are in are illegal. Should I have just accepted whatever comes out of his mouth as the absolute truth?

I've had Supervisory Patrol Agents tell me that within 3 years, you'll be making 6 figures. I know many Patrol Agents that are still in the 5 figure salary range.

Obama once told me that he would bring about hope... I'll let you answer that question, and he's the Commander In Chief of the US Military.

Are you going to withdraw this post as well?

[bobfried]

As I mentioned earlier... on the internet, we are all just "people" and I could care less who you are. I listen to what is said, not who is saying it. If it is sound advice, I will listen and acknowledge, if it is bad advice, I will tell you so.

Again, you are putting LEO's on a pedestal. I respect all LEO's for what they do, but LEO's are not the absolute authority on information. LEO's are known for giving out incorrect and false information, not because they are dumb, but they are "people" like the rest of us.

I once had a COP tell me that all AR15s regardless of what configuration they are in are illegal. Should I have just accepted whatever comes out of his mouth as the absolute truth?

I've had Supervisory Patrol Agents tell me that within 3 years, you'll be making 6 figures. I know many Patrol Agents that are still in the 5 figure salary range.

Obama once told me that he would bring about hope... I'll let you answer that question, and he's the Commander In Chief of the US Military.

Are you going to withdraw this post as well?

I like my privacy so I might withdraw it at my choosing.

Your asking about a SPECIFIC AGENCY and talking to subject matter experts within those agencies so yes those opinions should be put on a pedestal.
If I had a question about USC I would take your opinion above anyone else who have not attended USC.

You are making broad blanket statements about LEO's yet you have very specific people answering very specific questions that they are the best equipped to answer. If you don't think that a BPA is equipped to answer questions about the Border Patrol than I'm not sure who is going to be able to answer your questions.

And don't doubt that Supervisor, at their station Agents probably are making 6 figures in 3 years. Again, if he doesn't know than who would?

[Recession]

I like my privacy so I might withdraw it at my choosing.

Your asking about a SPECIFIC AGENCY and talking to subject matter experts within those agencies so yes those opinions should be put on a pedestal.
If I had a question about USC I would take your opinion above anyone else who have not attended USC.

You are making broad blanket statements about LEO's yet you have very specific people answering very specific questions that they are the best equipped to answer. If you don't think that a BPA is equipped to answer questions about the Border Patrol than I'm not sure who is going to be able to answer your questions.

And don't doubt that Supervisor, at their station Agents probably are making 6 figures in 3 years. Again, if he doesn't know than who would?

Bobfried, first off, you have to understand that I have nothing against you or any of the other LEO's here. I don't even know why this is dragging out as long as it has. I wasn't the one asking questions, I was one of the ones answering the questions.

Someone claimed that they could get GL-7 pay without obtaining a college degree. I initially responded by saying no, that is not possible, but I omitted the part about having LEO experience, which I quickly corrected in my other posts by stating that without prior LEO experience, the only way to qualify for GL-7 would be with higher education as stated by BP requirements, requirements that were posted by an (agent?).

At most I was agreeing with the requirements that were posted by one of the (agents?), I wasn't trying to argue against them. I never stated that anyone was wrong except the person who claimed others were able to achieve something that went against what the other (agent?) had posted. But for some reason, I get bombarded with replies from (agents?) telling me that I'm stupid and need to learn to READ and that my college tuition could have been spent better elsewhere. Respect is earned, not given. You could be the Sector Chief, but if you come off as being a douche, everything coming from your mouth from then on will sound like "blah blah blah blah" and not advice.

I did READ and that is where I got my information. As posted by the (agent?), If you do not have prior LEO experience, then to qualify for GL-7 you will need to have attended a 4 year university with superior academics, 1 year of graduate studies, or law school, which is what I have been saying all along as well.

I wasn't being given answers by (agents?) as I wasn't the one asking the questions. What I was given was a hard time by the (agents?) for basically repeating what they had said, but somehow they, including you, ganged up on me. Which I'm still confused about.

I respect the person who wears the uniform, not the uniform itself. Anyways... God bless America and God bless the Border Patrol.

[SIP2000GLO]

If you would have kept your mouth shut and listen and not pretending like you know everyting people would have told you how some people came on as 7s. Instead, you came off like you've been there, done that. You don't know everything!

Do you believe everything you read in the paper? Maybe that web posting is only half of what it actually is. Ever thought of that?

[Recession]

If you would have kept your mouth shut and listen and not pretending like you know everyting people would have told you how some people came on as 7s. Instead, you came off like you've been there, done that. You don't know everything!

Do you believe everything you read in the paper? Maybe that web posting is only half of what it actually is. Ever thought of that?

Just as you don't believe everything that you read in the paper, I don't believe everything that people say. Then there are those that do believe everything they read in the papers and also believe everything that people say.

The problem doesn't lye on the information that is given, but the inconsistency of the information given from different sources that come from the same place.

In this hand, you have the guidelines from BP printed in stone as the absolute only way to qualify, in the other hand you have others saying that there are exceptions to the rules.

The 2nd amendment guarantees the right to bare arms, yet others say there are exceptions to that and come up with their own interpretation.

I tend to believe that the final authority is what is written and not what is spoken.

*edit*

By the way, I have been there and done that and am speaking from experience. I applied for GL-7 because I had a bachelors degree from a prestigious university, but was only approved for GL-5. Why? Because of exactly what the web posting said would happen:

1) no prior law enforcement experience
2) didn't have a gpa of 3.0 or higher while attending a university
3) didn't attend atleast 1 year of graduate studies
4) did not attend law school

Now you tell me, was it wrong to answer someone's question according to my first hand experience in that exact process they had questions about?

[SIP2000GLO]

Good luck to you!

[jeff762]

any of you applicants know what sector and station you will be working out of?

[veeklog]

Wow, this post got a "little" out of control and everyone needs to stop, take a deep breathe, and count to ten. Okay, in a civilized matter, I will give MY and only MY opinion in this matter. I am just a lowly Fed here, but it will answer some of the questions lingering since this topic started

(1) As many are discovering, the path to getting hired as a BPA is a long one. After all, you are dealing with the U.S. Federal Government, and it is a HUGE Bureaucracy. As many in the military know, it takes forever to get even the most simplest task completed, whether it is hiring someone for the BP or attempting to get a new Blackberry from OCIO. So, be patient because it will take awhile. However, I must say a year isn't as bad as some agencies; ICE, DEA, ATF, Secret Service, IRS CID, FBI, etc take a lot longer time to get hired. I have known people that have waited an average of two years in order to get a job offer

(2) As far as GS/GL-05 and GS/GL-07 pay scales go, does it really matter and is it worth it to get all riled up over it? Yes, it is true you get your journey man grade a lot quicker as a GS-07, and it is a few thousand dollars a year. When I took a job with USCS O.I. from the Border Patrol I took a pay scale downgrade from a journey man level PA to GS-07/10. Now that pay scale downgrade really sucked!! Imagine how pissed many of us ex-PA's were after the merger! But I will tell you, that I was really happy to just have gotten my criminal investigator job, and in the end, it all worked out for me.

When I was in college an ATF Agent told me the hardest times, both financially and mentally, were the first year as a Federal employee. This was very true because everyone I knew lost money in their first year of Federal Service. Imagine getting paid $800 USD every two weeks and living near downtown San Diego? I know I ate a lot of Top Raman and Taco Bell my first year being a PA.

So, for all reading this, this post is a huge lesson in patience and taking baby steps.

Baby Step#1: get into shape and ready mentally for the academy.

Baby Step#2: get a job offer and EOD to your respective duty station

Baby Step#3: worry about getting through the academy when four types of law that are thrown at you, Spanish lessons, firearms, PT, driving, and anything else (on/off duty) that would get you fired from the academy.

Baby Step#4: Report to your duty station, and for the next two years, try not to screw up so you won't get fired!

After you completed all baby steps, you can sit back and breathe a sigh of relief. Hey, the last Baby Step is actually better than the old days. In the old days, they had had four chances to fire you: Academy, 6 1/2 month exam/Spanish boards, ten month Spanish boards, and year probation. But once you made it past probation, it would have taken a tow truck or just being a complete moron to get fired!

[siliconphreak]

Took the exam today in Sacramento. Now the wait begins.

[evidens83]

Took the exam yesterday in San Diego. I wont get results for about 6 weeks correct? And lets just say I barely passed. How do the job offers work? Am I put on a waiting list and better grades go first? Is there really a minimum 1 year wait to even get hired?

[BoJackUSMC]

Evidens83
No, it will only take you less than 10 days for you to get your NOR (test results). After that, more waiting if you passed the test. The higher you get on your test, the faster you will get your TO package. It took me two months to get my TO package with the score of 90. Just dont think about it, focus on your school if you are a student. If not, just spend your time in the gym to get in better shape. Also, use the waiting time to do some research on Border Patrol history and their mission statement.

[Sam1]

I tested on a monday and had my NOR by monday morning, so about a week more or less, oh and I got the results via email.

I guess when you get your TO that includes your results too but that's actually a physical letter sent to the address you provided, correct?

[siliconphreak]

After the exam they said it would be 6 to 8 weeks before we got the results.