Warik-

Go Fed! The pay is better, the hours are better, you have the chance to specialize, and many more advancement opportunities.

If you are going to go local, find a big department with opportunities to advance. Smaller department have fewer of these opportunities. I have a lot of friends that are local cops as well and most of them got off the street as soon as possible and took the Sgt exam, tried out for the tactical team, or motorbikes, or other specialized units. Patrol work can get tedious after a while.