A. If you have at least two years of prior police experience, you may be considered for the accelerated (lateral) academy. The Chief of Police decides who is eligible based on years of experience, the size of department/city that you are coming from, the type of and variety of calls you have been exposed to, and, if out-of-state, how different those state laws are compared to Texas laws. Even if you are required to go through the entire 26-week academy, you will still get paid for your experience (visit the salaries section of the website). Prior experienced officers that have been required to attend the entire academy have just looked at it as getting paid for some great training with weekends off for a while!
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