Some misinformation in this thread.
Almost all laterals are from in-state. Few from out of state..
Utter and pure BS! Laterals coming in from out of state are far more conscientious than rookies from the academy in learning our state laws and local ordinances.
While there are indeed quite a few laterals within state, probably the majority as you say, there are still many that come from out of state, and the majority of those that
I have spoken to are from California. Washington is a notoriously hard state to get into law enforcement in, as the average applicant to position ratio over the last 15 or so years has been around 2000:1. Its not uncommon for people to apply for LE jobs in states where the ratio is far lower, (such as California, especially in LA) then transfer to a more desirable (less dangerous, better pay, cheaper housing, etc.) state after a few years.
Just because you call BS with an :exclaim: doesn't impress or convince me you have a clue what you're talking about here. The fact remains that out of state transferees from states with dis-similar laws have a lot of things to learn about the laws of our state when they get here. Its not such a hard thing to understand that they are less likely to take the time to focus on those laws that don't have any practical impact on their own daily lives since they are, and have been, immune to most firearm laws. Transferees are also less likely to pay attention those laws that they didn’t really have to focus on the minutia of so much, where in more restrictive states, the equation is commonly broken down to something as simple as - Has Gun = fellow cop or bad guy. The equation is obviously more complicated than that here.
Again, in my now 15 years of experience working around and interacting with federal, state and local LEOs/LEAs, this has been my experience.
Sorry if my experiences don’t fit with yours, but...o well.