Police officers seek to deter violence and uphold federal, state and local legislation through the lawful use of force in cooperation with the public. If you’re considering being a police officer, always remember these basic facts about the job role.
Police officers are charged with keeping order and protecting lives and properties in the community. You might get hired because of the high responsibility of becoming a police officer, if you have a clear, articulate and optimistic resume objective. It will illustrate to potential employers that you have the qualifications and experience necessary to the role of a police officer.
Skills Required
Police officers communicate with witnesses, suspects and the public on a regular basis and they must have excellent leadership qualities, including emotional perception and interaction skills. In examining a scenario and deciding a course of action, critical thinking and problem-solving skills are essential. As well as life-saving skills such as CPR and first aid, physical endurance and strong investigative ability are required for the job. Since police work can be exhausting and risky, officers need to learn the capabilities of bravery, resilience and stress management skills.
Police Officer Duties
Through gathering evidence and interviewing victims, suspects and witnesses, police officers conduct patrol duties and investigate crimes. By directing traffic, conducting arrests, issuance speeding tickets, preparing crime reports and reacting to incidents of public disorder, they also maintain order. They assist with road-related incidents, accident scenes, and inspection points for vehicles. They also assist in criminal prosecutions and provide criminal cases with deposition and court testimony.
Three Main functions
Several functions performed by the police, even though we refer to the police as law enforcement officers, which include the provision of basic social services, the maintenance of order, and the control of crime.
- Social service
Whether it’s giving first aid or finding lost children, the police help individuals who need emergency assistance. More than 50% of the phone line calls to the police request help typically involve social service, compared to less than 20% for crime.
- Order‐maintenance
Traffic control, crowd control, order to resolve domestic disputes, and relocating prostitutes from the streets are all activities of this order-maintenance. Instead of enforcing the letter of the law, the focus of order maintenance is on handling situations to preserve peace. An arrest may be the appropriate order maintenance solution, but it often consists of some of the less formal action.
- Crime control
They engaged a wide variety of duties, such as patrols and criminal investigations.
Bottom Line
The availability of 24-hour expands police contact with the public. The police are called by people because no other agency is available. Whatever aspect of the police mission is emphasized, the police must be willing, in the last analysis, to threaten force and to back up the threat with action, whether it involves checking suspicious individuals who appear to be out of place or responding to crime reports.
To make decisions involving the life and liberty of citizens, they routinely rely on their own experience, training, common sense, and judgment. Decisions involving arrests, traffic tickets, lethal force, and domestic abuse are examples of discretionary decision making. Officers determine whether or not to invoke the power of the law in each of these situations.