How to become a Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officer 2024

Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officer 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.

Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officer is Also Know as

In different settings, Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officer is titled as

Deputy
Deputy Sheriff
Law Enforcement Officer
Patrol Deputy
Patrol Officer
Peace Officer
Police Officer
Police Patrol Officer
Public Safety Officer
State Trooper

Education and Training of Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officer

Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officer is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officer

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 Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officer

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

Degrees Related to Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officer

Training Required for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officer

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 Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officer in different industries are

What Do Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officer do?

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.
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.
Conduct community programs for all ages concerning topics such as drugs and violence.

Qualities of Good Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officer

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.
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.
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.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
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).
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
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.
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
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.
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.
Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
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.
Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
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.
Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officer

35 millimeter cameras
All terrain vehicles ATV
Audio recording equipment
Automated external defibrillators AED
Base station radios
Biohazard suits
Blood collection kits
Body armor
Breathalyzers
Bulletproof vests
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation CPR face shields
Crime scene rulers
Crime scene tape measures
Deoxyribonucleic acid DNA collection kits
Desktop computers
Digital cameras
Digital video cameras
Digital voice recorders
Distance measuring wheels
Drug testing kits
Electroshock weapons
Equipment transport trailers
Explosive detectors
Filter masks
Fingerprint evidence kits
Fingerprint scanners
First aid kits
Global positioning system GPS receivers
Handguns
Hearing protectors
Impression casting kits
Laptop computers
Laser trajectory pointers
Metal detectors
Metal handcuffs
Mobile data computers
Multipurpose fire extinguishers
Nightsticks
Noise meters
Pepper spray
Personal computers
Personal motorized watercraft
Plastic handcuffs
Police bicycles
Police boats
Police car radios
Police motorcycles
Police patrol cars
Police rifles
Police shotguns
Police snowmobiles
Protective gloves
Radar speed readers
Remote traffic signal controllers
Riot helmets
Riot shields
Road flares
Safety glasses
Scuba diving equipment
Semiautomatic pistols
Service revolvers
Side-handle batons
Snow goggles
Surveillance binoculars
Suspect fingerprinting equipment
Teletype terminals
Tire deflation devices
Two way radios
Ultraviolet UV lights
X ray examination systems

Technology Skills required for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officer

Computer aided composite drawing software
Computer aided dispatch software
Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
Crime mapping software
Database software
DesignWare 3D EyeWitness
Email software
ESRI ArcView
IBM Lotus 1-2-3
Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System IAFIS
Law enforcement information databases
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Internet Explorer
Microsoft Office software
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Word
National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database
National Integrated Ballistics Information Network NIBIN
SmartDraw Legal
SmugMug Flickr
Spillman Technologies Records Management
The CAD Zone The Crime Zone
Web browser software
Word processing software

US Universities

How to become Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officer in 2024