I'm in a different position than posters in this thread. I've been a sworn officer for just over a year and I'm on a three-year contract. I was initially ecstatic that my job-seeking was quick and painless, I was hired in just a few months at the first department I applied for (I promise I'm not trying to rub it in to you hopefuls, there is more to the story). I quickly found out the reason for this -- my department suffers a chronic manpower shortage due to a combination of having stagnant wages in a municipality that is experiencing a rapid increase in cost of living and the opportunities for promotion are few. I am not exaggerating when I say most officers need to work off-duty gigs to afford life outside of our most high-crime neighborhoods.

On top of this, I have come to realize I would be better suited in a civilian role that focuses on the more strategic side of law enforcement. I have worked with our civilian analysts, but transferring to their position is not an option due to the pay cut I would have to take on top of my already mediocre pay.

I have recently seen many job opportunities for civilian analysts throughout my state, all of which are in lower cost of living areas and some of the positions even pay more to start than our sworn officers make!

I have nothing but stellar performance reviews from my immediate supervisors, but I'm concerned I would be potentially blacklisted from law enforcement should I break my contract. As far as I understand, all I would have to do is reimburse the agency for the cost of training, which would easily be paid for by the combination of higher pay and a lower cost of living. Is it really that bad to break a contract in this profession? I feel trapped, as if I don't start applying to these other jobs I'm going to miss out on some great opportunities and if I do apply to them I'm going to end my career before it even really started. Thoughts?