Take a student loan, and go through the police academy. a 10k loan will not be a problem to pay back. Saving up 10k ahead of time is just plain stupid and ignorant. Get the loan and do it now. My nieghbor makes about 100k a year. Police officer... Actually, he is Police Chief in this little town. Compare that to your 16 an hour... Work 3 years as a cheese factory guy, make 30k a year. Or.... take out a loan, 10k, get your job as a police officer, make 60k a year for 3 years... you have 90k more then you would have working at the cheese factory. Pay your loan back, you still have 75-80k more...
Just think logically. If you can be smart, credit is a wonderful thing. Credit is only bad in the hands of an American Idiot(75% of America).