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Career Details

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
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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
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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
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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.
 Public Safety and Security
  • 95%
    Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
 Law and Government
  • 94%
    Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
 English Language
  • 83%
    Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
 Psychology
  • 79%
    Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
 Customer and Personal Service
  • 76%
    Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
 Education and Training
  • 74%
    Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
 Administration and Management
  • 68%
    Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
 Telecommunications
  • 67%
    Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
 Clerical
  • 66%
    Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
 Computers and Electronics
  • 62%
    Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
 Communications and Media
  • 60%
    Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
 Personnel and Human Resources
  • 60%
    Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
 Therapy and Counseling
  • 56%
    Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
 Sociology and Anthropology
  • 55%
    Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.
 Transportation
  • 55%
    Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
 Geography
  • 53%
    Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Tools
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Tools
The tools listed below include machines, equipment, tools, and software that is useful for individuals who are interested in this career.
 Cameras
  • 35 millimeter cameras
  • Digital cameras
  • Digital video cameras
 Specialized and recreational vehicles
  • All terrain vehicles ATV
  • Police snowmobiles
 Surveillance and detection equipment
  • Audio recording equipment
  • Digital voice recorders
 Emergency medical services resuscitation products
  • Automated external defibrillators AED
  • Cardiopulmonary resuscitation CPR face shields
 Personal communication devices
  • Base station radios
  • Police car radios
  • Two way radios
 Safety apparel
  • Biohazard suits
  • Bulletproof vests
  • Protective gloves
 Clinical forensics equipment and supplies
  • Blood collection kits
  • Deoxyribonucleic acid DNA collection kits
 Crowd control equipment
  • Body armor
  • Riot helmets
  • Riot shields
  • Side-handle batons
 Security and control equipment
  • Breathalyzers
  • Drug testing kits
  • Explosive detectors
  • Metal handcuffs
  • Nightsticks
  • Plastic handcuffs
 Length and thickness and distance measuring instruments
  • Crime scene rulers
  • Distance measuring wheels
 Measuring and layout tools
  • Crime scene tape measures
 Computers
  • Desktop computers
  • Laptop computers
  • Mobile data computers
  • Personal computers
 Firearms
  • Electroshock weapons
  • Handguns
  • Police rifles
  • Police shotguns
  • Semiautomatic pistols
  • Service revolvers
 Product and material trailers
  • Equipment transport trailers
 Forensic equipment and supplies and accessories
  • Fingerprint evidence kits
  • Impression casting kits
  • Suspect fingerprinting equipment
 Computer data input devices
  • Fingerprint scanners
 Audio and visual equipment
  • Global positioning system GPS receivers
 Hearing protectors
  • Hearing protectors
 Fire fighting equipment
  • Multipurpose fire extinguishers
 Dispensing tools
  • Pepper spray
 Recreational watercraft
  • Personal motorized watercraft
 Safety and rescue vehicles
  • Police bicycles
  • Police motorcycles
  • Police patrol cars
 Traffic control
  • Remote traffic signal controllers
  • Tire deflation devices
 Pyrotechnics
  • Road flares
 Vision protection and accessories
  • Safety glasses
  • Snow goggles
 Scuba and snorkeling gear
  • Scuba diving equipment
 Teletype equipment
  • Teletype terminals
 Lamps and lightbulbs
  • Ultraviolet UV lights
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Technology
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Technology
The technologies listed below include machines, equipment, tools, and software that is useful for individuals who are interested in this career.
 Content authoring and editing software
  • Computer aided composite drawing software
  • DesignWare 3D EyeWitness
  • IBM Lotus 1-2-3
  • Microsoft ExcelHOT
  • Microsoft PowerPointHOT
  • Microsoft VisioHOT
  • Microsoft WordHOT
  • SmartDraw.com SmartDraw Legal
  • SmugMug FlickrHOT
  • The CAD Zone The Crime Zone
  • Word processing software
 Business function specific software
  • Computer aided dispatch software
  • Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
  • Microsoft OfficeHOT
 Information exchange software
  • Crime mapping software
  • Email software
  • ESRI ArcView
  • Microsoft OutlookHOT
 Data management and query software
  • Database software
  • Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System IAFIS
  • Law enforcement information databases
  • Microsoft AccessHOT
  • National Crime Information Center NCIC database
  • National Integrated Ballistics Information Network NIBIN
  • Spillman Technologies Records Management
 Network applications software
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer
  • Web browser software
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Certifications
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Certifications
The certifications listed below are useful to pursue if you are interested in a career in this field.
 Advanced
 Product/Equipment
  • IBM Certified Solutions Specialist - i2 COPLINK Detect V4.x
    1133 Westchester Avenue White Plains, NY 10604404-238-1234 (outside U.S.)

  • IBM Certified Analyst - i2 Analyst's Notebook V8.9
    1133 Westchester Avenue White Plains, NY 10604404-238-1234 (outside U.S.)

 Core
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Licensing
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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
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Online Programs related to this career, offered by participating institution(s), are listed below.

Clicking on the Degree programs in the list below will take you away from the Careers page.
INSTITUTION
PROGRAMS
Brightpoint Community College
Germanna Community College
Laurel Ridge Community College
Northern Virginia Community College
Paul D. Camp Community College
Rappahannock Community College
Southside Virginia Community College
Tidewater Community College
Wytheville Community College