How to become First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detective in 2024

First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detective Directly supervise and coordinate activities of members of police force.

First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detective is Also Know as

In different settings, First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detective is titled as

  • Police Captain
  • Shift Supervisor

Education and Training of First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detective

First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detective is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

Experience Required for First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detective

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Education Required for First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detective

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Degrees Related to First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detective

Training Required for First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detective

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detective in different industries are

What Do First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detective do?

  • Explain police operations to subordinates to assist them in performing their job duties.
  • Inform personnel of changes in regulations and policies, implications of new or amended laws, and new techniques of police work.
  • Supervise and coordinate the investigation of criminal cases, offering guidance and expertise to investigators, and ensuring that procedures are conducted in accordance with laws and regulations.
  • Investigate and resolve personnel problems within organization and charges of misconduct against staff.
  • Train staff in proper police work procedures.
  • Maintain logs, prepare reports, and direct the preparation, handling, and maintenance of departmental records.
  • Monitor and evaluate the job performance of subordinates, and authorize promotions and transfers.
  • Direct collection, preparation, and handling of evidence and personal property of prisoners.
  • Develop, implement, and revise departmental policies and procedures.
  • Conduct raids and order detention of witnesses and suspects for questioning.
  • Prepare work schedules and assign duties to subordinates.
  • Discipline staff for violation of department rules and regulations.
  • Cooperate with court personnel and officials from other law enforcement agencies and testify in court, as necessary.
  • Review contents of written orders to ensure adherence to legal requirements.
  • Inspect facilities, supplies, vehicles, and equipment to ensure conformance to standards.
  • Prepare news releases and respond to police correspondence.
  • Requisition and issue equipment and supplies.
  • Meet with civic, educational, and community groups to develop community programs and events, and to discuss law enforcement subjects.
  • Direct release or transfer of prisoners.
  • Prepare budgets and manage expenditures of department funds.

Qualities of Good First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detective

  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detective

  • 35 millimeter cameras
  • Audio recording equipment
  • Automated external defibrillators AED
  • Base station radios
  • Biohazard suits
  • Body armor
  • Breathalyzers
  • Bulletproof vests
  • Crime scene tape measures
  • Desktop computers
  • Digital cameras
  • Digital video cameras
  • Distance measuring wheels
  • Drug testing kits
  • Explosive detectors
  • Filter masks
  • Fingerprint evidence kits
  • Fingerprint scanners
  • First aid kits
  • Laptop computers
  • Metal detectors
  • Metal handcuffs
  • Mobile data computers
  • Multi-line telephone systems
  • Multipurpose fire extinguishers
  • Nightsticks
  • Noise meters
  • Pepper spray
  • Personal computers
  • Plastic handcuffs
  • Police motorcycles
  • Police patrol cars
  • Police rifles
  • Police shotguns
  • Radar speed readers
  • Radio scanners
  • Remote traffic signal controllers
  • Riot shields
  • Road flares
  • Semiautomatic handguns
  • Semiautomatic pistols
  • Service revolvers
  • Side-handle batons
  • Surveillance binoculars
  • Suspect fingerprinting equipment
  • Teletype terminals
  • Two way radios

Technology Skills required for First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detective

  • Computer aided composite drawing software
  • Computer aided dispatch software
  • Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
  • Crime mapping software
  • DesignWare 3D EyeWitness
  • Email software
  • Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System IAFIS
  • Law enforcement information databases
  • Microsoft Access
  • Microsoft Active Server Pages ASP
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Visio
  • Microsoft Word
  • National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database
  • National Integrated Ballistics Information Network NIBIN
  • Scheduling software
  • SmartDraw Legal
  • Spillman Technologies Records Management
  • The CAD Zone The Crime Zone
  • Word processing software