Changing Jobs in Law Enforcement - Why or Why Not?

[Jeremiah Sullivan]

A lot of LEOs have recited their various changes in departments in their stories, working for a muni, an SO, maybe in Corrections, a state Highway Patrol, and so forth.

I worked my entire career for one agency, BUT, we had a mobility policy that required you  to accept transfers at the "convenience of the government" whether you were ready or not.  So just about every two-three years, the work was something new and exciting.  I retired when told I had to return to HQ in Washington for a third desk tour and at the same time I got an offer to teach my trade.

My nephew and godson moved from the NYPD twenty years ago when he got a job offer from the chief of the small department in his home village called with a job offer..."Uncle, I found myself taking cover under my scout car  with my partner and a TPF officer, taking incoming rounds from a MAC-10 wielded by an unhappy customer up on a rooftop....All I could think of was I gotta make an important phone call when this is over."  (He has been very happy with the move, by the way, even if he still has the same unhappy customers - the commute is a lot shorter....)

So my question is this:  if you worked for more than one agency, what made you want to move?  If you worked your entire tour (or entire tour so far) in one department, weren't you ever tempted to move, and if so, why didn't you change jobs?

Bonus: what would be your preferred LEO job: inside/outside, urban/rural, patrol, detective, corrections, etc?

[Shotgun Franklin]

I moved for more money or to get away from corruption. 

[East_TN_Patriot]

I moved for more money or to get away from corruption. 

Same here.  My first department was in my hometown and it was EXTREMELY political. We didn't even have a policy manual (and this was in the late 1990s). I moved to my second department and loved working there until we got a new chief and the place went down the tubes. Ever since, the agency has been unable to retain officers (my friends who still work there said they will go through as many as 20 cops in a year out of 97 sworn).  Policing is one of those strange careers where you almost always have to start at the bottom all over again, so I just decided to teach criminal justice instead of starting over when we moved to Tennessee for my wife's career with the federal courts. 

[Utah Bob]

I interviewed a number of officers who had prior service with other departments for employment.
The primary reasons most of them gave for wanting to change were:

1. Politics
2. Lack of opportunity for advancement (which frequently involved politics)
3. Working Conditions/duties
4. Pay

Then there were the ones who were running from disciplinary actions. I'd say they made up about 25%.

[Shotgun Franklin]

We didn't even have a policy manual (and this was in the late 1990s).

I worked where the policy book was a loose leaf binder so pages, not numbered, could be inserted or removed as the Chief saw fit. There was only one copy and we were supposed to pass it around.