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.