Police work is not a job, it is a way of life, and if you are interested in learning how to become a cop, you may be surprised at how difficult it is. This is not the kind of career that you obtain by graduating from high school, going into the nearest police station, and turning in an application. You will need a minimum of forty to sixty college credits, and in many cases you will be required to have an associate degree in criminal justice before you are even considered. If you have any criminal convictions, you will not be considered, nor will you be accepted if you cannot pass the psychological tests that you will be given.
Learning How to Become a Cop
The best way to get started learning how to become a cop is to become acquainted with your local police officers, and set up a date to go on a ride along with them. Ask them how they became involved in police work, what the requirements were, where they applied, and how long the process took. Find out when the city is scheduling official police examinations. When an open application period has been scheduled, applications will be accepted, sometimes online.
If your application is accepted, you will be put on a waiting list. The better your qualifications are, the higher your name will appear on the list. These initial qualifications are the first steps toward understanding how to become a cop.
How to Become a Cop – Prepare Yourself for the Call
The requirements for becoming a police officer are many, and the job description is broad. The written examination alone causes many applicants to quit before they even learn how to become a cop. After you have turned in an application you will want to prep yourself for the written exam. You can ask your local police headquarters for study material, and they are often glad to provide it. Do not neglect the physical part of preparation, either, during this time. Begin a strict physical regiment. You will want to be in top shape physically and mentally, when your call comes. Here are a few of the physical demands you will be expected to meet when you go to the academy:
* Run two to three miles with no mile taking more than eight minutes
* Bench press your own weight, or more.
* Perform twenty pushups and thirty situps in under one minute.
* Scale an eight to ten foot wall.
How to Become a Cop – Additional Requirements
In addition to these requirements, often, superiors believe that if their officers are going to carry mace and stun guns, those officers should know what being maced, and being shot by a stun gun feels like. A police officer should not be afraid of physical violence, so you can expect the academy to accustom you to physical violence. Such conditioning may save your life, and perhaps the lives of other people around you at some point during your career.
- Police Officer Salary
Once you have passed the psychological test, the written test, and have made it through the academy, you will be given a precinct in which to work. A police officer salary will often be higher in the more dangerous precincts. You can expect to make an average of 50,000 dollars per year with two to five weeks of paid vacation, bilingual bonuses, holiday bonus pay, and excellent health benefits and retirement packages.
- Police Officer Job Description
Here are some of the duties a police officer must be willing to perform in the course of his or her day:
* Protect and serve the citizens
* Give information to motorists and pedestrians
* Patrol specific areas by motorcycle, foot, bicycle or car
* Escort convoys
* Protect and escort celebrities
* Assist with riot controls
* Write traffic citations
* Respond to domestic disturbances, emergency situations and traffic accidents
* Watch for wanted persons and arrest them
* Transport prisoners
* Serve subpoenas and warrants
* Appear in court for testifying
* Conduct initial investigations of crime scenes, and assist detectives
* Write bulletins and reports
A police officer is under constant scrutiny, and his or her actions must be professional at all times, no matter the situation. New officers are sometimes susceptible to being impressed with their new authority, and in fact, there is even a term for this within the profession, and it is called being badge heavy. A police officer must never let the power they are invested with overwhelm, or corrupt them.
An officer may be off duty at times, but an officer is never free of his or her responsibilities to their duty. The rewards of police work are immense, and if you want to know how to become a cop, the true process begins in the heart.