A police recruit is someone who is seeking employment with a police agency or who has been hired by an agency. Officers who are in the police academy or out on their first months of work are called recruits. Once they have completed all their training and qualifications, they are called police officers.

If you are employed by a police agency they will customarily pay your starting salary AND send you through police training academy at their expense. FOr larger departments these are usually 'in-house' training facilities.

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All law enforcement investigators are police officers and are required to to pass state mandated training to be certified as such. 'Private' detectives - not necessarily, unless it is required by the state agency that controls their licensure.

The term "lateral" in reference to police officers usually has to do with applicants for police officer positions. If a person who is already a police officer in one agency wants to work for another agency, he may be allowed to come into the second agency as a "lateral" candidate. This means he may not have to attend another police academy (or may be able to complete an abbreviated course) and may start at a pay step above that of an entry-level officer. Lateral-entry positions save the hiring agency money, as they don't have to pay a candidate while they attend the academy, and they get an officer who already has experience. It's usually easier to "lateral" into an agency in the same state where you are already certified, since the same training requirements usually extend across the state. Some states and agencies will accept candidates from other states if they can show their training is equal to or exceeds the training in the hiring state.