Pharm. D. and Law Enforcement Jobs

[Sir Rx 23]

I was just wondering, with the drug epidemic and all, if someone has heard of any types of careers in law enforcement openning up with a preference for someone with a Pharm. D.? Is there any job in LE that values a Pharm D. at all?

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[lord999]

Not in the DEA, the Administrator's point of view is that they too valuable to risk in the field. There's laboratory and non-LE jobs that pharmacists occupy. In Homeland Security, yes, but not as law enforcement, but as Intelligence. There's about twenty to thirty pharmacists at any given time there working on various Surveillance initiatives that are being cooked up.

If LE in these fields is your goal, the more likely pathway is post-military enlistment or started in the police to begin with. For technical support, there are jobs out there, but they're not that straightforward to find. There's a negative perception of someone who obviously wants to work in LE that is from a technical field for the same reason that the government tries not to hire people who openly want to be weapon scientists as it's the wrong psychological profile for the sort of work required.

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

I was just wondering, with the drug epidemic and all, if someone has heard of any types of careers in law enforcement openning up with a preference for someone with a Pharm. D.? Is there any job in LE that values a Pharm D. at all?

The DEA used to actively seek out MDs and pharmacists.

Nowadays the degree is worth squat from a LEO perspective.

 

[beautifulrobot]

As a Federal Bureau of Prisons pharmacist you have opportunities to do some correctional officer related activities in addition to pharmacist duties. Not exactly the most exciting LE work, but it technically falls under LE work.

 

[Rouelle]

Perhaps some states have their state board inspectors be certified LEOs?

 

[smercer]

The only thing I can think of is to work as a member of your state's Drug and Narcotic Agency. There are certain criteria to be an agent and one of them is to have practiced pharmacy.

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

Perhaps some states have their state board inspectors be certified LEOs?

In Texas they carry sidearms because of course they do

 

[lord999]

In Texas they carry sidearms because of course they do

That's from the days that TABC and Pharmacy were the same Board. For those of you who don't know, there's state crimes in TX for illegally transporting liquor (even if not for sale) from wet to dry counties that still gets enforced from time to time. If you have more than some amount of any form of alcohol (I think it's a gallon of liquor from my bad memory of the test), you have to have the receipt (or some document that shows origin and possession) with you if you get pulled over even in closed container situations or it's a TABC violation. Apparently, there used to be a brutal part of the TX MPJE exam that covered alcohol control laws that had stupid questions over which counties were wet, moist, and dry (and yes, they are in order of where you don't want to live in TX). Nowadays, they just torture new grads on Class A-F pharmacies.

 

[Sir Rx 23]

The only thing I can think of is to work as a member of your state's Drug and Narcotic Agency. There are certain criteria to be an agent and one of them is to have practiced pharmacy.

This is along the lines that I was thinking.

In Texas they carry sidearms because of course they do

I can actually see that. Especially in Texas, no doubt private pharmacies have some type of weapon to protect against robbery (which I am all for. There is more than one way to deter crime and I hear racking a 12 gauge is one of the best.). I do not know Texas's laws on that but I am sure it is done. (As a freind once said, "sometimes it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission." And I am also sure he is not the only one thinking this way.

Now this being said, an inspector goes into a pharmacy that happens to be this pharmacist's and his family's only source of income and threatens to shut it down for violations. With some people, that may not go over very well. (Case in point, I believe it was FedEx that wanted to keep their employees from having firearms in their parking lot because they were afraid of how people would react if they lost their job.) Again this all being said, in cases like this, I can't say it would be a bad idea for an inspector to be armed.

 

[Sir Rx 23]

That's from the days that TABC and Pharmacy were the same Board. For those of you who don't know, there's state crimes in TX for illegally transporting liquor (even if not for sale) from wet to dry counties that still gets enforced from time to time. If you have more than some amount of any form of alcohol (I think it's a gallon of liquor from my bad memory of the test), you have to have the receipt (or some document that shows origin and possession) with you if you get pulled over even in closed container situations or it's a TABC violation. Apparently, there used to be a brutal part of the TX MPJE exam that covered alcohol control laws that had stupid questions over which counties were wet, moist, and dry (and yes, they are in order of where you don't want to live in TX). Nowadays, they just torture new grads on Class A-F pharmacies.

So, are you saying the pharmacy inspectors are no longer carrying?

 

[Sir Rx 23]

Not in the DEA, the Administrator's point of view is that they too valuable to risk in the field. There's laboratory and non-LE jobs that pharmacists occupy. In Homeland Security, yes, but not as law enforcement, but as Intelligence. There's about twenty to thirty pharmacists at any given time there working on various Surveillance initiatives that are being cooked up.

If LE in these fields is your goal, the more likely pathway is post-military enlistment or started in the police to begin with. For technical support, there are jobs out there, but they're not that straightforward to find. There's a negative perception of someone who obviously wants to work in LE that is from a technical field for the same reason that the government tries not to hire people who openly want to be weapon scientists as it's the wrong psychological profile for the sort of work required.

What do you mean by intelligence work?

Also, I didn't know they discouraged hiring people who actually wanted to be weapons scientists. I always thought weapons scientists were viewed as people who wanted to work in research and development and also serve their country, work in the military, or wanted a government job.

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

What do you mean by intelligence work?

Also, I didn't know they discouraged hiring people who actually wanted to be weapons scientists. I always thought weapons scientists were viewed as people who wanted to work in research and development and also serve their country, work in the military, or wanted a government job.

They'd be better off getting in touch with the DO

 

[lord999]

What do you mean by intelligence work?

Also, I didn't know they discouraged hiring people who actually wanted to be weapons scientists. I always thought weapons scientists were viewed as people who wanted to work in research and development and also serve their country, work in the military, or wanted a government job.

Intelligence work (or in the military, staff work in the 1-9 style). So, the ratio between Special Agents to Support Personnel is about 1:4. Special Agents do not grow on trees, so where should they be, what should they do, what risks are worth the objectives (including the risk of their lives), and what policies should be prioritized is the point of the intelligence job. For the pharmacists who work there, there is quite a bit of dossier writing (the closest to that would be an analogy where drug monographs where the "market" is a city, the drugs are illegal, and the "manufacturers" are the supply lines or importers), map interpretation, and pattern analysis. There is some expectation for mission supervision and control as well, though the actual command goes to Special Agents in Charge and their more senior counterparts.

No, weapons scientists (at least, senior ones) do not come from people who openly want to work on weapons. In the past, Tackleberry types compromised both security and safety causing places like our Hanford site to get out of control. It's like you don't want to hire a pharmacist who is obsessive over controls and wants to work with the safe all the time, private motives are problematic in the safe area, because you cannot trust their agenda. The only exceptions to that practice have been gun manufacturers, and even that has been tightening down due to corporate recognition of what the USG philosophy is on hiring them (and the relatively poor quality control of recently made firearms that are US designed).

 

[Kharak]

As a Federal Bureau of Prisons pharmacist you have opportunities to do some correctional officer related activities in addition to pharmacist duties. Not exactly the most exciting LE work, but it technically falls under LE work.

I believe USPHS pharmacists working for Federal BOP have no arrest/correctional authority. This is why they aren't covered by LEOSA.

 

[Robdawg678]

Perhaps some states have their state board inspectors be certified LEOs?

Yes. I am one for my state. We are required to attend the police academy and become LEO. We inspect any registrants that have anything to do with controlled substances.