Are the "Police Academy" movies an exaggeration of how the academy really is to become a cop?

Very much so. It is very physical (start running -build up to at least 2 miles- and start a weight lifting program -endurance not bulk).

I am not sure about NYPD, but most agencies pay you while you are in training.

You will have classes about law, domestic violence, child pornography and sexual abuse, the occult, and about issues dealing with force including deadly force. You will have at least a week of doing the following: driving skills, shooting, and hand to hand tactics.

It is very mentally and physically challenging.

Im pretty sure you do get paid for training. Actually im almost positive. I was going to attend the academy last year, then i got deployed so i never went when i got back. I have heard it is fairly hard, but judging from some of the cops that i have seen i can't really see how it could be to hard. Good Luck !!

As someone that has lived through all these events on the opposite side of the world it seems that whatever people do all cops are going to have their charges overturned from Rodney King through to Amandou Diallo and now to Sean Bell. It doesn't seem to matter whether we would riot or petition or hold marches or whatever. I look at it more from a Political point of view as my Brother is highly active in Human Rights & Environmental Activism but what do you hear out the mouths of most people our ages. These Tree Hugging Hippies and Left Wing Loonies creating havoc. Most fools believe what Politicians tell them and what they read in the papers and those that are wealthy build their whole lives around exploiting others. Unless you can make people give up their time and take risks like losing their homes, jobs etc to fight the fight for Freedom and Equality it's only gonna get worse. CCTV, Patriot Acts, Globalisation and War on Terror are just part of the start of suppression of Free Speech. I even see fans in this section hating on artists like Immortal Technique because they call them crackpot conspiracy theorists but a lot of what they say is true and we are too scared to admit most of us are pawns to the game.

in GA you are normally hired by the police department and are thier employee when you go to th academy, you are paid, but often at a lesser pay than after you graduate.

But you can also pay your own way though someof the academies. There you actually pay for the classes and are not paid, but most have job offiers before they graduate.

The academy is kind of like boot camp and college rolled up into one. You spend all days learning various issues relating to the law, laws of arrest, firearms, etc. Its just like college except, during the breaks between your classes, you get to do push ups, get yelled at, run around, etc.

Have fun with it.

PS - With my agency you get paid during the academy.

Its a comedy series of movies, it would be fairly obvious that the real academy wouldn't be like that, let alone to think that they would be still like they were in the 80's

No, it's really exactly like the movies...go for it, it's fun!!!

no, all of that really happens..

What.......? Those aren't documentaries?