So it seems that he sought out a demotion - ? - at the end of Season 3? He'd already been behind on alimony payments and had to have taken a pay cut, for one thing. I thought this was particularly odd given his speech about how good he was at working cases; it was his "thing."
I've read posts saying you need to watch the show more than once to pick up on certain details, so likely missed something that explains his actions. : /
Because he realised that his obsession with working cases was making him angry and self-destructive without providing the sense of fulfilment that he was looking for.
This scene is where the seed is planted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgTRPjHVrFE
Hm, that was the scene I had in mind when I wrote that I thought McNulty was all about cases! I guess I didn't think he was open to advice from his elders.
Thanks!
I don't know if there is actually a pay increase for being a detective versus being a regular patrol cop. He certainly lost out on all that overtime but he was more concerned with how he'd screwed up his life than how much money he had.
shareIn most every agencies, a detective's pay grade is always higher then that of a patrolman. Patrolmen have a chance to almost double their pay from Overtime every year however.
In most agencies, your career path will either go through the patrol ranks or CID/Spec Op ranks. Most everyone starts out in patrol and you get your "feel" as to what you like or what you have a knack for. That usually determines your path...unless someone taps you for something else.
We had detectives who could have easily made Sgt, Lt, COD or even higher but chose to remain a detective for the love of working cases.
Some patrolmen would have quit if you tried to make them a detective.
Just some thoughts if anyone is interested.
I'm *very* interested; thanks for your post!
So it seems - if I understand you correctly - that in some police departments, the higher you climb, the further away you are from actual police work? You become a manager/bureaucrat/delegator? Although you might dictate policy, as with Bunny and Hamsterdam?
When I started in law enforcement in the mid 80s, I thought the people in the "West Wing" or "puzzle Palace" as we called it were old crotchety out of touch police management who didn't know what it was like to be on the street anymore.
I had a crazy first few years (I could write a book) that included a case that appeared on Court TV. I was very happy where I was and content with going up through the ranks on the patrol side until I was "voluntold" that I should move to CID...Someone above me thought it was in my best interest to move and when this happens, you listen.
I moved to Vice/Narcotics where cases just seemed to fall in my lap. I was sworn in federally and became a part of a DEA task force. We were forming OCDEF cases which is Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement task force cases. Really fun stuff that took me to several different states working with many different agencies. I was actually considering going Federal until I was "Voluntold" to to move over to Robbery/Homicide Division by the same person.
I immediately fell in love and felt that this was my calling. I had several high profile cases that included murdered police officers, police officers committing murder and had 1 case that would end up on Forensic files some years later. I made up my mind that no matter what, I was staying in Robbery/Homicide until I retired.
Many years later I was voluntold that I was going to jump a rank (which was going to piss a lot of people off) and I was going to transfer and become Lieutenant in charge of the Internal Affairs Division. NOPE, not going to happen in this life time.
That same guy told me "you have to pull your time in IAD. I'll get you out of here as soon as I can, trust me".
2 years later I was promoted to Captain/Commander (back in uniform ughh) in charge of all Patrol, SWAT/Metro operations. Not a bad gig but I was beginning to learn that I was no longer in the game as my responsibilities became my men and women and making sure they had what they needed including ongoing training.
At this point in my career I was happy. I had mentored a couple people below me as I was mentored and they were doing a great job. I had no problems other than the occasional officer involved shootings/car chases that ended in injury etc..
Well a few years later I was Voluntold for the last time that I was going to become 1 of 4 Deputy Chief's of Police. If your timing was right and you had enough "suction"... we called it "juice" then you would become Deputy Chief of Administration and eventually become the next Chief of Police. I was too close to retirement and was promoted to Deputy Chief in charge of Special Operations.
I was no longer doing anything that remotely resembled law enforcement. I was keeping up with state and federal legislation as it related to law enforcement programs etc...I was meeting with City Counsel on a weekly basis begging for an increase in budget funds, more personnel, better equipment, more vehicles etc...
I was creating training programs of all types in an attempt to keep the department out of lawsuits. I was rewriting policy and procedure manuals to keep up with modern day law enforcement. I was advocating for my troops EVERYDAY with respect to COLA adjustments and Merit Increases in pay all the while...they probably thought I was old, crotchety and out of touch and didn't know what it was like to be on the street.
I finally retired and moved away. I had some of the funniest, saddest, scariest times of my life in law enforcement. I wouldn't change a thing but I am so thankful to be done.
Well, that was a mouth full.
Curious, which forensic files episode was it? I rarely watched the show back when, but now am binge watching all of them
shareI would buy the book if you ever wrote one!!
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