Nurse and Police Officer

Altra, BSN, RN · Jul 19, 2006

I know several nurse-law enforcement couples, but none who do travel nursing. The career ladder & pay/benefit/retirement structure for law enforcement and other public employees tends to reward longevity of service, not job hopping. If the law enforcement half of the couple could do some other type of private security work, maybe that would tend to work better.

twoanddone · Jul 19, 2006

I know several police officer/nurse couples but none that travels. I agree with pp. Police officers jobs usually require lengthy employment in one departmen for good retirement benefits. My dh is also a police officer and one day I'll be a nurse.

58flyer · Jul 19, 2006

i was wondering if their are any nurses who have a police officer for a husband and if when u travel is it easy or difficult for him to find a job?? please reply

With most police agencies it takes up to a year to get hired sometimes and then another year to get through training/probation. If the officer already has a state police certification in the state he wants to work in then he may get on sooner but there are still some agencies that want you to go through their own academy. Like the other poster said, law enforcement does not lend itself to job hopping very well. The more the officer has jumped jobs the less likely he will hired by another agency. There is just too much investment in the new officer to see them leave after a short time and an agency will not want to take that risk if there is a pattern. Perhaps private investigative work would be a better option.

newohiorn, BSN, RN, EMT-P · Jul 19, 2006

I wish you had gotten a better answer on this one, as I too would like to travel and my husband is a police officer also. We haven't come up with anything to solve this dilemma either. Security is the only thing I can come up with--maybe at the same hospital you would travel to but that would be a huge pay cut. I would imagine other kinds of security positions would not be very amenable to a short-term hire. It's even difficult to move as a police officer unless you don't mind starting over in the academy at the bottom pay--not many departments accept lateral transfers. If you come up with any good ideas, please post them. I'll do the same, but we have been thinking about this since I started nursing school and haven't come up with anything yet.

Fiona59 · Jul 19, 2006

I'm going to sound like a bitter old woman with this but here goes.

Marriage is not about what an individual wants, its about what the couple wants. I did my travelling before marriage and children. So did he.

He has seven years until he can retire at the age of 55. He would never have got this if he had changed jobs every few years. But he is looking at employment privately or through the UN after he retires.

Has your husband thought about looking into a federal agency? Might be able to move every couple of years and not have it affect security, pensions, etc.

But having said that even here in Canada, the RCMP and military don't post members the way they used to. Spousal employment is a big issue and there are postings that people won't take because the wife or husband will have a hard time finding employment (usually smaller towns, far north and believe it or not parts of Vancouver Island).

If you have wonderlust, you might want to consider taking leaves of absence from your job and doing volunteer work, I know a nurse that does that every summer.

Nysloss · Jul 30, 2006

My husband is a police officer, and I am a nurse just getting ready to travel. He doesn't have a problem with me traveling -- nor the money. We want to adopt, want to build a new house, he wants a new boat...you see where this is going. We've switched off schooling and now we desire things. We've been together for a very long time, we're established, we don't see each other for quality time, anyways, on days we work, so, he's ok with it. I think it's just a decision you both need to make. I plan on staying in the surrounding states so that I can come home on my days off. It works for us. He is very involved with additional duties with the PD (SWAT Team Leader), so, he keeps busy as well. Our days off will be that much more appreciated and fun! He would never leave his tenor with his present PD to travel with me. And he loves the job too much to retire all together and travel with me. You have to think of yourself as a 'traveling salesman' persay. You can always test it out and travel regionally or statewide, first. Anyways, I hate the word impossible, but, I think it fits here. Law enforcement just isn't set up like that. Good luck with your decision.

KristyEDrn · Aug 9, 2006

Same story here...I want to travel and he is a deputy with rotating shifts and we have 2 children. I have talked to more recruiters than I care to think about trying to travel locally. If you are interested in him staying put you could always travel locally. My DH has applied for a transfer to permanent shift work in the department (VERY HARD TO GET) and FINALLY has a nibble with SRO so he can take boys to school and pick them up. YAY I think I will be able to do some local work now...but I am not counting my chickens before they hatch...you know how it goes with all of the police politics! The biggest bummer is that WE (as nurses) are generally the primary bread winner in these families yet we have to work our schedules around them. Well we do b/c of childcare issues...anyway, best of luck in your decision making.