New Book: Second Careers For Street Cops

A new book has just been published and is now available.   The book provides retiring police officers with a resource to assist them in preparing for a fulfilling retirement and a second career.

As police officers approach retirement, they will transition through three stages:

1) thank God I’m off the treadmill;

2) what the hell am I going to do now; and

3) find something to do occupy your time in retirement.

The challenge for most retiring police officers is stage #2.

Photograph of VPD Veteran John Eldridge.

VPD Veteran John Eldridge has successfully made the transition into retirement and has captured what he has learned in his new book entitled “Second Careers For Street Cops: Use Your Experience As A Police Officer To Start A Second Career, A Practical Guide For Law Enforcement Officers.”

According to John, “Police work was great. I was a member of the Vancouver Police Department in British Columbia for 26 years and considered myself lucky to have found such a great place to work. The problem was, I enjoyed myself so much I didn’t think ahead about what to do after my police career. Then it got near retirement time. I started to ask myself a lot of questions about what to do next.”

He further outlined “Wondering what to do when your police career ends? I had the same question and eventually found the answer. Then I went on to a good second career. Along the way I learned some things about planning ahead for a second career and making the move into a new work life.

Times have changed. When I started in policing, the officers who retired did just that. They went fishing. Today retiring police officers usually want to get another job. That’s what this site is about: to help street cops move on to a second career. It’s also for those retired police officers who still want to work.

As thing turned out, I found a good second career in the Investigations Division of WorkSafeBC, the Workers Compensation Board of British Columbia. That lasted 11 years.

Then I wrote this book called “Second Careers for Street Cops” as a way of passing on what I learned. I hope you find it helpful.”

Finally John outlined “The transition from policing to a second career didn’t just happen. It took planning and preparation. What’s your plan for a second career? Have you got something you’d like to do after policing? Ok, golf and cruises, but that’s not what I’m thinking of here. What about building on everything you’ve learned in your police career to work at something you really want to do?”

To supplement the book and assist retiring police officers, John developed a website.  Check it out here.  On this website, he provides some examples of what is contained within his book:

– Career Advise – check it out here;

– Your Resume – check it out here;

– Reputation – check it out here;

– Networking – check it out here;

– On-line Job Seeking – check it out here; and

– Employment Trends – check it out here.

The cost of the book is only $15.75 and is available from  Amazon Books – check it out here.

If you have a friend approaching retirement or has just retired, this book would be an ideal gift.  We encourage you to pass on the details of this book to friends and colleagues.