Should I leave my city police job for state police?

Well unlike most states PA state cops actually do regular police work in most areas that in other states a sheriff would do. But their main work is still the highway. If you like working alone with back up far far away and like traffic work go for it. Personally I would never want to work state. I FTO'ed a lot of recruits who had been state cops in my state. Most took the state job while waiting for my department. None of them were sorry to leave and work in a large municipal department. DC has an advantage. Even though just a medium sized city because of what you have there you have a lot of variety in the job. You will soon learn that after 5 years of doing any kind of police work it is best to move on to a different type of unit. You have more choices with DC than most do (although I would hate having to work with all those other agencies on a major investigation).

First of all how many years do you have in and are both departments on the same retirement system? My agency the state is on a different retirement so all the time I have put it would amount to nothing. If your "dream" was to be a state cop then go for it. Just remember that the grass is not always greener, and will be on the bottom of the totem pole again. I do know the PA state cops have a pretty good reputation, and it is a lot bigger area than the relatively small area DC police cover. I would also assume you have a lot more opportunities in the state agency...SWAT, Air Patrol, K9, Dive Rescue, etc that DC police don't have.

Jack, I guess it depends on how much you like your job and what the pay increase/responsibility increase would be. A State Trooper in PA would probably be much safer than a City cop in DC though. Just Sayin

Unless you really love your job and your home, I would definitely go. It sounds like a great career move. Best of luck!

Yes..