Police Officers Essay, Research Paper
Overview The Police keep us safe from all the murderers,
bank robbers and other people that cause crime in this world.
Most police officers work forty hours a week with some
overtime if they are working on a case. Some officers work
weekends nights holidays and rotating shifts because, just
because it’s your day off doesn’t mean its a robbers day off. In
an average, day if you were a street cop, you would patrol the
highways and make sure everything is safe. Most cops don’t
make lots of arrests like the ones you see on the show Cops
they may make one arrest a day and most are just
disturbance calls. If an officer does make an arrest then they
have to take the person that they arrested to the station and
book them. To book somebody you fill out the proper
paperwork and put them in jail. If needed you might have to
go testify in court. In some cases when chasing a criminal you
might get hurt or shot, that’s why the injury rate for law
enforcement officers is higher than most occupations. Some
other hazards are that you might be exposed to hazardous
chemicals or diseases. Many police and other law enforcers
wear uniforms, but others like detectives don’t. Some officers
buy their own handguns and those can cost up to $700 or
more depending on the quality. Some law enforcers travel a
lot, like the secret service. How To Get Hired Most law
enforcement people get hired by the city, county, state and
sometimes federal governments. Some people are private
security officers. Most cops have education beyond high
school but others don’t. When hiring a, lot of police chiefs
prefer officers who went to police academy. Not all police
have to be certified. To be hired people must meet six
qualifications, have a good driving record and take a drug test
and physical agility test. It is best to learn as many foreign
languages as possible to speak to all the different languages
of our population. Salary Entry level police officers and deputy
sheriffs earn an average of about $2,175 per month. Top
wages earned can go up to about 2,900 a month. Officers in
higher rank earn even more. (Detectives) as an added bonus,
they don’t have to wear uniforms and have the lowest risk of
getting hurt in duty (make about 2,650 per month). Police
hiring is running about average and will slowly increase. How
To Get Certified You have to be a citizen of the United States
and at least 21 years of age. Pass a background investigation
and they might even talk to your high school teachers. You
must have a high school diploma or GED. Pass a physical
exam and have corrected or uncorrected vision of 20/20 sight
and good hearing. To be sure you are not a criminal they
finger print you and you must also have passed a course at
the police academy and have taken on the job training there.
Also you must have CPR cards. Preparation Law agencies,
when hiring people or promoting more law agencies look for
people with college education. Some agencies even require 2
and 4 year college. Most training can be done at community
colleges. Some officer take apprenticeship to get more
employable even though all officer get on the job training after
they got hired. Secret Service The secret service is an
agency that protect many governmental officials and
investigates crimes that has to do with money, like
counterfeiting. The secret service was started in 1865 and is
America’s oldest agency. The secret service didn’t start
protecting the president until 1901 when president William
McKinley was assented. The secret service was successful in
protecting nine presidents until J.F.K. was assented. After the
J.F.K. assignation the secret service increased the budget for
the agency and hired additional agents. With the increase in
budget the secret service aquired equipment and many new
computers. No president since J.F.K has been assented since
then and there budget increase must have helped. FBI The
name FBI stands for Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI
didn’t get it’s current name until 1935. The FBI was started in
1908 and had the name of the Bureau and later the Division.
J. Edgar Hoover was the first director of the FBI in 1924. The
FBI usually works on federal crimes like bank robbery,
kidnapping, terrorism, and white collar crimes. Since there are
many federal crimes committed the FBI has 56 different
locations which are in large cities and one in Puerto Rico. The
FBI has it’s main office in Washington D.C. in the event of
something happening to the government. CIA The name CIA
stands for Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA is a division
of the Executive Office of the President. The CIA is kind of like
our governments spies because they investigate foreign
affairs such as Atomic Bomb security. The CIA has been
under investigation a couple of times by the U.S. government.
The CIA was being charged with illegal weapons trade and
spying when they weren’t supposed to. The CIA was the
group that lead the Bay of Pigs invasion by J.F.K. The CIA
was started in 1947 and was directed by William J. Casey.
The CIA has some of the best technology. They invented the
U-2 a secret spy plane and are now working with under water
technology that can bring up submarines from the bottom of
the sea after they have sunk. DEA The name DEA stand for
Drug Enforcement Administration. The DEA was established
in 1973 to investigate the trade and selling of illegal narcotics.
The DEA has now started working with the FBI to investigate
narcotics. This agency has offices in more than 40 foreign
countries like Columbia. Many times DEA agents work
undercover. ATF The name ATF stands for Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms. The ATF investigates the sale of illegal
weapons and works to control alcohol and tobacco and the
sale of it to minors although, often the police help stop the
illegal sales. Conclusion Even though law enforcement is a
dangerous job, many American’s each day risk their lives to
help keep us safe from bank robberies to kidnappings. Each
agency is devoted to different crimes. There are many
agencies not listed here and many that are to undercover to
find out about. One kind of law enforcement that I did not
mention is the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. The don’t
protect us from everyday things, but they protect us from
bigger things like war. We all give our thanks to the men and
women of Law Enforcement.