Career Details
Career Details
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Career Details
33-3051.00 - Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
33-3051.00 - Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
Maintain order and protect life and property by enforcing local, tribal, state, or federal laws and ordinances. Perform a combination of the following duties: patrol a specific area; direct traffic; issue traffic summonses; investigate accidents; apprehend and arrest suspects, or serve legal processes of courts. Includes police officers working at educational institutions.
Key Facts

Bright Outlook
1
Career Details
Green Job
Career Details
Current Employment
680,000
Estimate
Forecasted Employment
714,200
Estimate
Change in Employment
+34,200
Estimate
Change in Employment %
+5%
Estimate
Tasks

Tasks
The tasks listed below can be performed to prepare you for a career in this field.
Core
- Identify, pursue, and arrest suspects and perpetrators of criminal acts.
- Provide for public safety by maintaining order, responding to emergencies, protecting people and property, enforcing motor vehicle and criminal laws, and promoting good community relations.
- Record facts to prepare reports that document incidents and activities.
- Render aid to accident victims and other persons requiring first aid for physical injuries.
- Investigate illegal or suspicious activities.
- Review facts of incidents to determine if criminal act or statute violations were involved.
- Monitor, note, report, and investigate suspicious persons and situations, safety hazards, and unusual or illegal activity in patrol area.
- Testify in court to present evidence or act as witness in traffic and criminal cases.
- Drive vehicles or patrol specific areas to detect law violators, issue citations, and make arrests.
- Monitor traffic to ensure motorists observe traffic regulations and exhibit safe driving procedures.
- Relay complaint and emergency-request information to appropriate agency dispatchers.
- Verify that the proper legal charges have been made against law offenders.
- Photograph or draw diagrams of crime or accident scenes and interview principals and eyewitnesses.
- Evaluate complaint and emergency-request information to determine response requirements.
- Execute arrest warrants, locating and taking persons into custody.
- Patrol specific area on foot, horseback, or motorized conveyance, responding promptly to calls for assistance.
- Investigate traffic accidents and other accidents to determine causes and to determine if a crime has been committed.
- Direct traffic flow and reroute traffic in case of emergencies.
- Notify patrol units to take violators into custody or to provide needed assistance or medical aid.
- Serve statements of claims, subpoenas, summonses, jury summonses, orders to pay alimony, and other court orders.
- Question individuals entering secured areas to determine their business, directing and rerouting individuals as necessary.
- Patrol and guard courthouses, grand jury rooms, or assigned areas to provide security, enforce laws, maintain order, and arrest violators.
- Transport or escort prisoners and defendants en route to courtrooms, prisons or jails, attorneys' offices, or medical facilities.
- Inform citizens of community services and recommend options to facilitate longer-term problem resolution.
- Locate and confiscate real or personal property, as directed by court order.
- Provide road information to assist motorists.
Generic
- Conduct community programs for all ages concerning topics such as drugs and violence.
Supplemental
- Process prisoners, and prepare and maintain records of prisoner bookings and prisoner status during booking and pre-trial process.
- Supervise law enforcement staff, such as jail staff, officers, and deputy sheriffs.
- Place people in protective custody.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Knowledge

Knowledge
The items listed below are organized into sections that contain knowledge useful for pursuing a career in this field. Each section also contains a "Percentage of Importance" statistic that shows how relevant an item is to the occupation.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Tools

Tools
The tools listed below include machines, equipment, tools, and software that is useful for individuals who are interested in this career.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Technology

Technology
The technologies listed below include machines, equipment, tools, and software that is useful for individuals who are interested in this career.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Certifications

Certifications
The certifications listed below are useful to pursue if you are interested in a career in this field.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Licensing

Licensing
The licensing information below is organized into sections and is useful for pursuing if you are interested in a career in this field.
No specific licensing information is listed for this occupation in the area you have selected.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Related Programs

Online Programs related to this career, offered by participating institution(s), are listed below.
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Clicking on the Degree programs in the list below will take you away from the Careers page.
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