Become a Police Officer

Law enforcement is a career field that is as rewarding as it is interesting. It is a career field that offers multiple specialties and options for those who are willing. It is also a career field that is notorious for a sometimes grueling application process and lengthy training requirements. Sometimes the most intimidating part of the process is a lack of understanding of the process. This article will help explain some of the application and hiring procedures for police officer careers and will offer a few bits of advice to those pursuing the career.

First things first, ask and you will receive. No agency will offer an inexperienced person a job as a police officer. The career is simply so popular that most agencies will have files and files of applications that go back months if not years. This is especially true of larger departments like the Los Angeles Police Department and the New York Police Department. A good rule of thumb is that if there's a show on television that depicts a real world police agency, then that agency will generally have no shortage of applications to review. The only way to guarantee yourself a chance at being hired is to fill out the preliminary application. This is not the only application that will be filled out, just a starter application to identify any automatically disqualifying items in your past. Each jurisdiction will have different disqualifying factors such as domestic violence convictions or excessive drug use.

If no red flags appear in the preliminary application, it will be filed for future review by department employees whose only job is to conduct background investigations and review applications. References may be contacted and so may the applicant. The time between filling out the preliminary application and actually getting a phone call requesting the applicant to continue with the process can be as long as six months to a year. Again, the more popular the department (meaning the more applications to be filed), the longer the wait time is going to be. It is for this reason that it is not recommended for any police officer applicant to quit their day job. There is no guarantee that the applicant will be hired and the application processing time is simply too lengthy to live without a steady income.

It is recommended that the applicant explain to their current employer his or her intentions of becoming a police officer. Allowing your employer enough time to prepare for having to work around appointments will make the transition that much easier for you and your current employer. Appointments which may cause you to miss hours at your regular job include medical examinations, psychological examinations, and oral interviews. Advanced Notice of about a week will be given by police departments to applicants so planning around these appointments shouldn't be a problem.

After the preliminary application is where a lot of people become confused and frustrated. Every jurisdiction will have slightly different procedures and will conduct the following items in various orders, but the intent is the same. After the preliminary application, if the applicant is allowed to proceed, an aptitude test will be administered that measures, among other things, a person's knowledge of the English language and cognitive reasoning skills. Several companies publish police officer exam study guides that are highly recommended and pretty successful for the price. If that test is passed, the applicant will be allowed to proceed onto the next phase of the process.

The next phase will include a more extensive background investigation, oral interviews, polygraph examination, medical examination and drug test, and some form of a physical fitness test. The background investigation will most likely run concurrent with the rest of the processes. So while you're taking a drug test or lie detector, some department background investigator could be on the phone with your former boss asking about your character.

The oral interview may seem intimidating, but it shouldn't be. It is not meant to "break" the applicant, it isn't an interrogation, it is a way for agency representatives to learn more about you as as person and not as an application package. With that being said, it should be fair to note that these guys still aren't your friends, not yet anyway. They don't care about your all night college frat parties as much as they care about your desire to become a police officer. This is also where the agency may weed out those who want to become police officers just for the power and the gun.

The medical exam will be fairly simple. A couple of blood tests, some blood pressure, a few interview questions about your medical history and any health concerns you may have, and you'll be on your way. This is just to make sure that no physical ailment will stand in the way of you being able to perform your sworn duties.

The polygraph (or lie detector exam) is another intimidating portion of the application process. The accuracy of polygraph machines has been challenged for decades, but they are still in use by many law enforcement agencies. The process will start with a series of control questions, or questions that the interviewer already knows the answer to. This will allow the interviewer to tell when the applicant is lying, based on the response of the machine during the control questions. Questions to follow include a laundry list of crime related questions. Have you ever stolen from your employer? Have you ever experimented with cocaine? Have you ever killed another human being? For some reason, no matter how innocent a person may be, they will usually still feel a bit of nervousness about being attached to the lie detector. It is a natural emotion, so don't worry, it'll all be over soon.

The physical agility test will show the agency how fit you are. The test usually consists of a run from anywhere between one and two miles, a sprint of usually no more than a hundred meters, push ups, sit ups, and sometimes pull ups. Again, the specific physical agility course will vary depending on the agency.

When all of the above has been completed and the applicant has been given the nod from agency leadership to be allowed to proceed, the police academy is the next step in the hiring process. Police academy training is an average of six months in length. In most cases, the academy will be like attending a more regimented and much stricter college campus. Classes take place during the day with breaks in between for physical activity and meal breaks. Tobacco use is usually not allowed while at the academy. Uniforms will be worn and constantly inspected. On the bright side, most academies allow students to return to their own homes at the end of the day. Some academies may provide dormitories for students, but these are used in cases where a student lives a certain distance from the academy.

When graduation day comes at the police academy and the student is promoted from cadet/recruit to police officer, he or she will be handed back over to their agency of hire for more specific in house training. While this training is being conducted, the new police officer will be paired with a field training officer (a mentor of sorts) and will be placed on probationary status for up to a year. Only after successful completion of the probationary time period will the former applicant be considered a full fledged police officer (or no longer a rookie) by his or her peers.

Law enforcement is no fast food joint. While most application times will take a month or two at most, few other career paths seem to have an application period and application process as lengthy and in depth as law enforcement careers. Hopefully, an explanation of the general process of police officer hiring has cleared up some of the questions you may have had about the process and offered you some information that you can use to prepare for the application process ahead.

With that, I wish you good luck in your endeavors.