Sometimes, the search for a future profession when you are sixteen or seventeen years old can be quite overwhelming. I suggest reading this article because if you ever thought about becoming a Police Officer, you will learn in this article all the information that can help you either decide this job is for you or not. I hope it will help you. Just like it helped me to have this kind of article to do my research.
Being a Police officer can be very a gratifying job. You are helping people directly. Apart from this, this job can be very tough on the mental side. People are calling the police when something is bad or goes unwell. You need to be prepared to see human misery. Crimes scenes are not something beautiful. You will see things that people don't see when they are working in an office downtown.
Police Officers have many tasks they need to fulfill to serve their community. Police personnel patrol defined areas to deter crime, spot warning signs of it, and guarantee the public's protection. Also, Police personnel uphold and enforce regional, national, and municipal laws. They respond to distress calls, and take the required steps to deal with them, which may entail making arrests, giving tickets, or issuing warnings. They need also to look into crimes by conducting investigations. Of course, the task of doing documentation and paperwork is related to this job. Police officers also take part in community policing initiatives to build up empathy among the local population. To detect and handle issues relating to crime and disorder, they collaborate with local groups and individuals, attend community meetings, and address issues.
When you arrive to the police station for your shift (day, evening or night), you will have a briefing held by your sergeant. He will separate the tasks his team needs to fulfill. For example, you and your partner are assigned the traffic control (giving tickets) in the schools areas task. He will also assign the hours you and your partner will go into lunch break. After, you will leave the station and go on with your shift!
Of course, your main office will be the police station, but the main office for police officers is everywhere! The streets, restaurants, people home, stores and more. They are brought to work where a person's needs them.
In Quebec, police officers are the most trained in the world. For example, in the United States, it will take you 6 weeks. Here, You will need approximately 4 years to become one. First, you need to go in Cegep and study in the Police Technology program. This program is not offered at every Cegep, and it is very quota. You need to have very good grades and be in a really good physical condition. You have the option of doing your program in 3 or 4 years. After you graduate the Police Technology program, The National Police School of Quebec will welcome you between their doors for another 15 weeks to terminate that long journey. After all that, you will be a well-trained police officer ready to serve his community!
The salary of officers varies between the municipalities for which you are choosing to work for. For example, rookies wages are starting at $41 000 per year if you decide to work for the SPVM. You will have an augmentation with your years of service. It can go as between $80 000 to $100 000 depending if you are doing some overtime.
When you finish all the "basic" courses to become a Police Officer, you can push your education a little further and go to university. It is very common in the police world. People get university degrees often to go up in grade. The more popular fields are criminology, toxicology, victimology etc. Also, some municipal services offer specializations like K-9 unit, GIT (swat) and more. To become a K-9 agent, for example you will need for sure some additional training.
There are many dangers in being a Police Officer. You are even sometime in death danger. You never know the intention of the person in front of you. You are placing yourself in difficult situations when you intervene with people.
I think it's nearly impossible Police Officers will be replaced by robots soon. Being a Policeman or woman requires empathy and being sensible to other person's emotions. Robots do not have this kind of sensibility yet. Also, robots do not have judgment, something you really need in this job.
It is a very physical job. You need to be in a good physical condition. Police Officers will retire between 25 and 30 years of service. You can do more if you are an investigator because it is less physical. More office work.
To conclude, choosing to become a police officer is truly a vocation. It is for you or it is not. No, in between. It is a wonderful job but with many dangers.
Rationale: to inform or educate
Authority: government
Date: recently published
Accuracy: probably true
Relevance: relevant for this document
Sources: no sources cited
Rationale: to inform or educate
Authority: research journal
Date: still relevant
Accuracy: probably true
Relevance: relevant for this document
Sources: no sources cited