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FED Uniformed LEO Experience
If you are committed to becoming an 1811 Special Agent AND you are a recent college graduate, you might be wondering why a single federal investigative agency is not giving you an invitation to the interview process. This is likely because you currently lack substantive work experience . There are many ways to obtain that substantive work experience but working a part-time job in retail is not going to contribute towards this goal.
Now I find that topics like this constantly get confused and conflated by various online warriors and rejected applicants who generally have no experience in the matter. I will try to explain as clearly and concisely as possible. As always, I am speaking in generalities and there are always exceptions to the rule or scenario.
If you have NO college degree (and don't intend to obtain one) and are trying to qualify as an 1811, then your best shot is to substitute the degree for investigative experience at a State or Local agence (i.e. as a detective). This pathway is allowable for SOME but NOT all federal investigative agencies. Now if you are a veteran and don't have a degree, then you may similarly be able to qualify under a Veterans Hiring Preference Vacancy Announcement for some (but NOT all) agencies, or conversely apply for a military special agent position within your service (i.e. OSI, CGIS, Army CID, etc.). Then there are other candidates who may be able to qualify and quickly get moved to the front of the line based on specialized skills (i.e. Lawyers, CPAs, Language, Pilots, etc.).
For all others, who are trying to qualify based on their degree and work experience, you are my target audience for this discussion.
As a college graduate (who is NOT in any of the specific categories specified above) who is committed to becoming a special agent, one of the quickest ways to gain substantive experience is to join a uniformed federal law enforcement agency (i.e. Federal Protective Service, ICE Enforcement & Removal Operations, Customs & Border Protection, Secret Service Uniformed Police, U.S. Park Police, Border Patrol, Bureau of Prisons, etc.) that uses the federal law enforcement retirement system. Here is my rationale for this potential path:
Benefit 1: You instantly stop the clock on the 37 1/2 maximum age ceiling. This may not seem like a big deal if your young but many candidates have been disqualified because they made the 1811 career decision much later in life. As a college graduate, the uniformed services will give you an instant opportunity with many options to advance in pay & responsibilities.
Benefit 2: You instantly start your creditable federal law enforcement years of service towards the 20 year retirement. For example, let's say you started working as a Uniformed Officer for the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA) at age 23 and stayed there for five years. Let's then assume that your dream 1811 gig with DEA finally happened and you subsequently started the DEA academy at age 28. This means that you are now eligible to retire at age 48; because with your accumulated 25 years of federal law enforcement service you can retire instantly (Normally, you have to wait until at least age 50 & need a minimum of 20 years of service). Since you started into the federal law enforcement system at a younger age, you will accumulate more years. Let's flip this around a bit (Scenario 2) and say you started with DEA at age 28 with NO prior federal LEO experience; in this second scenario you would only have 20 years of retirement pension coverage at age 48 and would need to wait until age 50 to become retirement eligible. Even then, at age 50 you would only have 22 years of covered service whereas in Scenario 1 you would have accumulated 27 years.
Benefit 3: You get to make early pre-tax contributions to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP); which is analogous to a 401K. Making full TSP contributions are vital to having a future in which you retire with dignity (unless you are independently wealthy). If you make the annual max contribution of approximately $19,000, you would be missing on close to $100k in contributions over five years; which could be close to a half a million in capital gains over your career. As an example, if you put in $400 a month towards the TSP; not only does that reduce your taxable income, the government will match the amount into your retirement account with their own $400 (meaning you get $800 in total contributions).
Benefit 4: You progress in the pay band system which helps increase your starting salary as a new special agent. For example, let's say you worked for the Secret Service Uniformed Division for five years and progressed to GS-10 with a hypothetical salary of 100K. Now let's assume you obtained an entry level 1811 special agent slot with HSI (which range from GS 7-9). You will likely be given a starting pay band of GS-9 and then maxed out (example $90K) to get as close to your original 100K GS-10 pay as possible. This is obviously much better than starting as a GS-7 with a starting pay of $75K (example). Additionally, as a maxed out GS-9 you will get bigger increases in your salary and progress to GS-13 at a quicker rate; and will likely make up that pay difference in a year! This does not routinely happen for State & Locals that become 1811s. Many police detectives often times find it difficult to leave for 1811 positions due the massive pay cut they would need to take; this would not be a major issue for a uniformed federal LEO.
There are obviously some downsides to this option as well. The Uniformed Federal Police agencies generally have limited geographical jurisdictions or authorities, often have routine or unexciting work, have restrictive discretion and very top-heavy management structures. I want to make this clear, with limited exception (i.e Border Patrol), most of the unformed police services do not engage in "true" police work in the traditional sense (i.e. responding to 911 calls). For example, Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA) Officers generally guard the entrances, check IDs, deal with internal calls and conduct limited patrols within areas owned by the Pentagon. This scenario obviously varies among the uniformed services but I just want to dispel the notion that federal uniformed police work is *identical* to State & Local. Anyone who is a uniformed officer (i.e. Federal Protective Service) will always have significantly less authority, variety and discretion in comparison to a State or Local law enforcement officer.
There is also the possibility that you may never get offered an 1811 position and are now stuck in your "starter" agency. Just sitting in a uniform agency will not get you a Special Agent slot, you must be willing to get into advanced programmatic areas in order to obtain qualifying experience (i.e. intelligence, investigations, forensics, explosives, etc.). This is the number one mistake that I see among federal uniformed applicants that apply; they often think that a degree and three years of "uniform" experience will be enough. I am here to tell you that this is a surefire method to get a rejection notice.
There is obviously no single way to obtain creditable work experience and everybody has a different personal situation. In general, I find many applicants with degrees that seem to repeatedly post this type of question are not aware of the benefits of starting in the federal system. I hope this post at least clarifies some of the myths about this path.
Here are some of my recommended test prep guides to help you get ready for the different federal uniformed positions. Passing the entry level exam is a crucial first step in your career; take it seriously!
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