Profile For Rob H.

I'm a police officer in PA. Here, when someone is issued a citation it goes to the local magestrate. You don't get arraigned on a summary offense, such as a traffic citation. Arraignments are for misdemeanors and above. You will plead guilty or not guilty though. In my experience its common for deals to be made between you and the officer before the hearing. If it were me I would plead not guilty, show up to court and conference with the officer before the hearing. Explain your situation to him and ask that he change the citation to a non moving violation or just ask him to retract it. More times than not he will change it to something else. I usually will change it to "obedience to traffic control device". It's a catch all that has no points and won't be reported to insurance. It also won't look as bad as a speeding ticket. If you want any help for fighting let me know. Does it show on the citation how he timed your speed?

-Rob

Thanks everyone for the great advice. I'm starting school on Monday and Ill start applying to jobs this week as well. I'm getting a lot of great help from this site and everyone seems very friendly. I look forward to a time when I'll be a contributing member to this site...

- Rob

Thanks everyone for the replies. I really enjoy law enforcement, but it is really getting hard these days. People forget that we are people too. Under the uniform and badge we have feelings and families at home. Sometimes I hate having to do my job. I really feel for some of the people I come in contact with. Today I spent half the day hunting down a suicidal/homicidal male so I could get him safe to the hospital for a mental evaluation and treatment. Its a lot more than people think it is, just as I'm sure trucking is. My wife and I talked about going OTR for a little while. Thankfully I live in eastern PA in a booming area. They're building warehouses everywhere around here and a lot of the companies have local/dedicated runs to NJ, NY, and within PA. I'm hoping I can land one of those jobs, but we are prepared to make the sacrifice. I'm almost done reading Bretts book Danielsahn pointed out. It actually is very helpful.

I've come to the conclusion that a 40 hour work week doesn't exist in trucking. lol. Realistically what am I looking at? 55 hours or so a week?

Thanks again everyone, Rob

I didn't really plan on doing this but life has a funny way of throwing curves at you. My name is Rob and I'm 31 years old. Ive been in law enforcement for the last 4 1/2 years working for two separate police departments. I quit my full time job on 12/14 because I was fed up with the way things were being run. (and I'm a patient guy, it was getting very bad). I still work a my part time job as a police officer and will be starting CDL school on 12/21 assuming everything goes smoothly. I guess the timing couldn't have been better. My father has been a truck driver for 20 years and he loves it. Although my passion has always been in law enforcement since I was about 7 years old, its really not what it used to be. People spit at me, give me the middle finger, curse at me, and my department receives death threats to officers at least once a month. My family is the most important thing to me and these reasons played a big role in why I decided to quit. My wife and I talked about it and getting a CDL and becoming a truck driver seemed to be the best route for me, with what little I know about the industry. I have to say, even though I've never considered trucking as a career path for myself, I am very excited to get started. I'm hoping with my law enforcement background it will help me get hired faster.

So with that said I have a few questions to anyone willing to help. I've been told that there are a little more than a dozen companies around my location that will take a new driver for local routes. Does anyone have any words of wisdom for family time while being a local driver? I work 10 hour shifts and 12 hour shifts at my other job so I'm used to being out on the road for long periods of time but I'm only putting in 40 hours a week plus overtime if I'm assigned. I think this is my biggest worry right now is seeing my kids and wife even less than I get to see them now.

Does anyone have any words of wisdom/career advise to pass down to a receptive newbie?

As I browse these forums I'm learning a lot so I hope by the time the 21st comes around Ill have a better idea of what to expect. I think there are 3 students total in my class so I should have a lot of 1 on 1 time with my trainer...

Thanks everyone, Rob