High school students are often asked: What would you like to do after high school? What do you want to be when you grow up?

Some kids may aspire to be a doctor, lawyer, professional sports player or even a police officer or firefighter.

If you have narrowed down your choices to the last two, you should really consider key factors to this job such as the location you’d work in, the benefits, starting salary, and the risks you would be taking.

Long Island is famous for a lot of things including its police force. Nassau and Suffolk County Police earn salaries ranked among the top-paid police departments in the U.S. When you begin your first year as a recruited officer in NCPD, your starting salary will be $34,000 and will increase to $107,319 after nine years. When you join Suffolk County Police, your starting salary is $42,000 and after 12 years the salary will increase to $111,506. In order to join Nassau County Police Department for recruitment, you need to be at least 17 years old and cannot exceed the age of 34 at time of recruitment. For Suffolk County, you must be at least 19 years old and cannot be older than 34 by the day of the written exam. You need to have a high school graduation diploma or certificate with proof that you’ve graduated. Benefits include 13 paid holidays, medical and dental plans, along with insurance for you and your family. When you work Overtime, you are working an extra shift or an extra few hours for extra pay for that day.

Joining the Nassau or Suffolk County Police Departments is probably one of the best ideas for anyone looking for a civil service job in Long Island. “Becoming a Nassau County police officer will enable you to serve your community, face new challenges on a daily basis and have diversified job tasks,” said Ed Mangano, Nassau County executive, in an article about the Nassau County Police Department swearing in its largest class of officers in over 20 years.

When thinking of your future career as a police officer, you would have to understand that college is necessary and that it will take a few years before you get a phone call regarding your results if and only if they were good enough to join the department. Departments would notify you if you passed their tests with high scores anywhere between one and five years.

To learn about how to take the starter tests for recruitment in one of the two Long Island departments, go to www.police.co.nassau.ny.us for Nassau County and www.suffolkcountyny.gov/police/ for Suffolk County recruiting information. Once you take the first written exam, you will have to take Medical, Personality Assessment, Polygraph, Extensive Background Check & Physical Fitness Screening tests.