Which is the better career move (CAF, RCMP, OPP, or Municipal Police)?

JayPeet wrote: ↑ I've received an employment offer to be an Army Intelligence Officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, and I'm also trying to be a provincial/federal police officer (still in the process). If you were to be offered both jobs (military and police), which would you choose and why? Also, other than the location of where you're posted, is one service (RCMP, OPP, Municipal), better than another in terms of management, culture, workload, etc.?

The main reason I want a career change is for personal and financial growth. I currently work at a university in student services. It's a good unionized job, but it's boring, has little growth, and I know exactly what I'm going to do every day. I want more excitement/adventure before I leave this world. What's also important is career growth and development. Both the military and police emphasize continuous learning/skills development, which I admire.

rcmpvet wrote: ↑ Before I expound on this there are a few caveats:
1 - TLDR - There is none.
2 - My experiences/knowledge are based on my service, retiring in '97 and the knowledge of those other services at that time. I do not think much has changed but changes that may have been made are probably for the better.
3 - I know you mentioned "other than location" however this does play a large role in terms of living, social life, housing and overall career satisfaction.

CAF - If the position you are offered is truly "Intelligence" then expect to be stationed in Ottawa or some other location (world wide) within the NATO envelope. Keep in mind that you will always be considered a "foot soldier" first and can always be redeployed. If the position is "Officer Class" then you may be able to avoid such a duty as "foot soldier". You have to have a University degree to be in such a rank. Housing can be a bitch if Base Housing is full.

RCMP - We were given 3 choices as to which Division to be posted, I imagine this may not have changed but they will take into account married vs single. Do not expect to be posted to an isolation detachment in the Territories (Yukon, North West or Nunavut), these are generally reserved for those with experience in another "Contract Division, Not Ontario/P.Q." There may very well be a waiting list for transfers into the Territories as most that go there want to stay. A completely different lifestyle mostly geared to a person who loves the outdoors. Work wise it will depend where you end up.

If stationed in Ontario/P.Q. you will not be considered a police person by other departments as your workload will be mostly Federal Enforcement, except the National Capital Division. In all the other Provinces you will be doing the same as any Municipal or Provincial police force. That said, unlike a large municipal force you will be expected to investigate all occurrences from start to finish, there may not be a specialized unit to come to take over your investigations, other than capital crimes, homicides, organized, etc. How you do perform on even the basic thefts, assaults, accidents, sudden deaths may well show others if you can then do specialized work. Surprisingly most of the members that I worked with, including myself, would turn down such assignments because we preferred to be a part of a smaller community. If you do get stationed to a large municipal detachment then you will be on par with the work of any large municipal force except you will still be expected to investigate to the end the smaller complaints. Generally, except for a large municipal detachment or specialized duties expect to be transferred every 5 years within the same province.

OPP - Except for being stationed on a traffic detachment, ie - policing the 401/403, etc. your work will be much the same as the RCMP. They may not transfer you as much and I imagine that if you were to request an isolation type post you will get same. That said there are others on this forum that can add to this, correct it, etc.

Municipal Services - You are a small cog in a big wheel within a specific city/region. The larger the Service the less opportunity to fully complete/follow through on most complaints, this is because you are going almost non-stop between calls.. That said if your initial investigations and demeanour stand out you can advance somewhat faster than with the RCMP/OPP. When I say advance I mean to specialized duties as opposed to actual promotions, although I believe most of these Services acknowledge that advancement from patrol to "detective" is a promotion. (RCMP promotions are strictly rank structured)

JayPeet wrote: ↑ Thank you for sharing your experiences, and for taking the time to write this detailed reply. The only thing I'm waiting on is my PSS results for the RCMP, everything else cleared. OPP seems to be moving quickly on my application, as I have until Mar. 01 to accept/reject the Intelligence Officer position with the CAF. I had a few questions I hope you might be able to answer:

- Would you have any knowledge of the type of work Intel Officers do on a daily basis (the good/the bad)?
- What did you like most/least about your time as an RCMP officer, and would you change anything if you could go back in time (different job, different choices, specialization, etc.)?
- What kind of work does federal enforcement entail if stationed in Ont/Quebec?

JayPeet wrote: ↑ An update on my journey: I've turned down my Intelligence Officer role. Any personal experiences/thoughts re: OPP vs. RCMP are appreciated. I'm at the end stages of both their recruitment cycles so it's possible I may get an offer from one, both, or none. Wish me luck and love to hear your thoughts on which to choose if given the choice!

rcmpvet wrote: ↑ First off - Kudos to you for doing your research. One thing that recruiters want to see is the amount of knowledge that an applicant has on a particular service.

Now I touched on this earlier, but to clarify: the RCMP and the OPP do completely different types of policing within Ontario. The RCMP only does Federal work within Ontario and Quebec.

The RCMP does very similar work to the OPP in all the other provinces, which we refer to as Contract Policing. Unlike the OPP the RCMP may also do City Policing in some areas, such as Lower Mainland of B.C. , Grande Prairie, Red Deer and Fort McMurray, etc. Pay and benefits are similar as are pensions and retirement ages.

Two TIDBITs - Useful information to show your knowledge of these two police services:

#1 - Both the RCMP and OPP are considered Crown Forces, the same as the Canadian Military. The Officer Ranks (Inspector and above) are all commissioned by the Monarchy or their representative in Canada. Maybe only one other police service in Canada has this honour. The RNC (Royal Newfoundland Constabulary) may have this honour, I have yet to determine this after years of research. I say maybe because the RNC does originally predate prior to 1949 when the Province was a part of Britain and they did have that "Royal" in their name.

#2 - This year the RCMP are celebrating their 150th year of existence, as a whole. In realty the RCMP itself, as the RCMP only celebrated 100 years in 2020.

GOOD LUCK

emdubya wrote: ↑ If you dont care about staying in Ontario, RCMP>OPP now that compensation is the same.

RCMP has poor frontline policing resourcing but anyone remotely competent will be able to move into other specialized area quickly. If rural policing/adventure is your thing, the RCMP has way better territory compared to the OPP (rural Ontario is generally pretty crap compared to rural BC, Territories, etc). The RCMP is generally a poorly run organization from a management point of view, cant speak to the OPP on this one.

RCMP benefits are also second to none, even for the government. 25 year retirement for unreduced pension, access to Veterans Affairs pension if you are injured while in service, excessively generous sick leave provisions, etc etc.

JayPeet wrote: ↑ I'm open to moving anywhere, but one thing that is attractive about the OPP is the possibility of being somewhere near my top 6 posting preferences. My background investigator for the OPP said there's a posting 1 hour from my house that has a shortage of officers. With all things being equal between the two orgs, that is a big draw. However, I know not all things are equal. RCMP haven't been portrayed in the best light in media lately. Less so for the OPP. On the surface, OPP does seem more professional/organized. Their recruitment efforts took a total of 4 months to complete, whereas the RCMP took 10 - 12. Not sure if that's indicative of anything. For me, management, work-life balance, work-culture, professional development, etc. are all important. Would you know if the OPP is better in these areas? I would assume there's more room for advancement and specialized work in the RCMP given its wide area of jurisdiction, which is attractive, but I heard the OPP has the same 150+ specialization opportunities. If you had a choice between the two, where'd you go?

JayPeet wrote: ↑ Thank you for the info and your words of encouragement. I've just received word that I'll be attending Depot. They just have to finalize the dates. I anticipate I'll have an answer from the OPP within the next week or two. I'll have a tough choice to make. Some say that the OPP is harder to get into and has a better reputation, but that's hard to believe considering the RCMP is at the 'top of the food chain', so to speak, as they're at the federal level. What do you think?

rcmpvet wrote: ↑ TLDR - There is none.

First off I would have to disagree with this statement. The RCMP (contract work) is the same as any other police service, outside of Federal Policing. Keep in mind that the following is based on my own experiences and may or may not be applicable today.

@emdubya Has given some good info and it would appear to be more up to date than my time but there are some points that I may clarify based on my time:

1 - "25 year retirement for unreduced pension" Not quite correct. While it is true that most consider this to be a full pension (50% of your previous 6 years?), in realty if you can stay for a full 35 years then your pension would be 70%.

2 - Injured in work, the RCMP has the same as the OPP. Both have private disability insurance, the OPP will cover (after WSIB coverage for first 2 years) for the remainder of your term (projected) as a "Wage Loss Replacement Program" (I also stand to be corrected on this, my information being my wife who worked for the Solicitor General of Ontario), this is taxable and when one does fully retire the WSIB (non-taxable) will kick back with either a lump sum payment or periodic payments, depending on amounts. Now the RCMP had/has private disability insurance (U/K if they still do) that would cover for the first 2 years in addition to your pension (makes up the shortfall). NOTE - If injured and discharged, etc you are given an immediate pension (medical). The Insurance will then kick in if qualified according to the plan. At this point one can also apply for a Veterans' Disability Pension. The injuries must first be assessed at a minimum of 5% disability before one is eligible for a monthly pension (tax free), if under 5% there will be a one time lump sum payment. Unlike the CAF which also has a Disability component the RCMP never agreed to the lump sum payment the present CAF members encountered around 2005, which has since been modified to include a monthly payment. The VAC pension is passed to your spouse if your rating is 50% or greater and the monthly payment is at 100% (of an individual no dependents). Additionally any medical expenses, drugs, therapy, etc. related to the injuries will be paid by the VAC.

3 - "The RCMP is generally a poorly run organization from a management point of view." This depends on one's perspective. Nationally the RCMP brass, when making decisions have to take into account the organization as a whole, without regard to individual provinces. This can easily become a Cluster F**k. As for each individual Division (province) the bosses/members within that division are really only working with that province and policies and things do tend to run smoothly, so they are very much like the OPP.

4 - "But the advantage of being sent to a rural posting out of Depot is that you will likely pull in insane money (think $200K+) with all the on-call and overtime." This really depends on where you are posted. I was in lot of small towns and most of my O/T was being called to to perform Breathalyzer tests. Minimal O/T for court (easier to schedule dates for a small detachment with one court date a week) and very occasionally some O/T when called at home in bed as most small detachments do not provide 24 hour coverage. That said members and their immediate commanders tend to be more forgiving on claiming O/T. Example - I organized a minor softball league for the town and the region as well as coached a team. Many times I would coach the team when I was working (always subject to receiving that radio call to an incident). I would tend to make up some of that time by working late. Many a 30-45 minute coffee break, sitting down with the locals to discuss what is going on, if I worked late I would never claim O/T.

5 - "You wont be posted back to Ontario if you choose the RCMP" I guess this depends on what stage in your service. If you expect to come back to Ontario right out of training, then the likelihood of that happening is almost nil. If however you do well in a contract province and want to come back in a Federal Policing or support role then it is more likely you will as your experiences of dealing with a general population is highly regarded and respected by other police forces in Ontario as they will look upon you as a real "police officer"

JayPeet wrote: ↑ Any thoughts on which postings are the most/least desirable for RCMP? I've heard they assign you at Depot but I've also read that you might be able to give them some preferred locations. Is that accurate?

GranolaB015 wrote: ↑ Hey, sorry to barge in the conversation. First off congrats on making it this far in all your applications. I was wondering if you ever looked into the Military Police trade in the CAF? They are federal just like the RCMP, but their jurisdiction lies mainly on CAF bases all around Canada and abroad. That does not mean they do not deal with civilians though, just not as often. They have opportunity to police abroad as well and has many other unique experiences. Although, the main thing with Military Police is that they require you to have specific education like Police Foundations or a similar degree like Criminology.

JayPeet wrote: ↑ I would consider the CAF but the career and salary progression is much slower compared to law enforcement, and I'm interested in both careers. I also know someone who is an MP and they are losing a lot of members to Fed/Prov/Muni agencies.

GranolaB015 wrote: ↑ I understand the salary progression, but in my opinion the benefits and the comradery makes up for it. On top of the usual law enforcement benefits you get military benefits. In terms of career, it is much quicker compared to civilian policing as you don't have to spend nearly as much time to specialize (I am strictly referring to the MP trade). They will pay for you to take more courses and training, some of which are in collaboration with other forces like CIA or FBI. The reason why MPs are losing members is mainly due to the salary and the fact that MP is fairly unique as they mainly deal with military members and there may not be as much "action" compared to the civilian forces. There is also the fact that you move around every few years or so, but that is the same as the RCMP, it is just a "perk" of being federal. So people transfer out to a municipal or provincial force for a better family life. Also, it's not just MP, policing everywhere in Canada is having trouble retaining members. MPs might be feeling it more due to the longer application process and the education requirement making it harder go recruit new members.