cwoods

I'm not speaking as a law enforcement officer so take my answers to your questions with a grain of salt, I'll give you my best answers coming from a family that is mostly in law enforcement and a student of criminal justice. 1- What are the different values and virtues a person would need to become a police officer? Does it depend on the position in the department? I would say you need a thick skin, HONEST, assertive in a non- threating way, able to handle pressure well, excellent communication and listing skills. These would be good skills of any position in law enforcement and are by no means an exhaustive list. 2-What are certain studies/majors/degree that you can study and graduate with to help you become a better candidate in application times Great question, study anything that interests you! I happen to love criminal justice so that is what I study, but you can study business, and computers, which would be great assets to any department to have an officer that has these skills. A degree in one of the liberal arts would also good for this field. As critical thinking and writing are often forgotten, but integral parts of police work. You could even major in one of the sciences, if you are interested in forensics and criminalistics. GIS/Geography is a good major for someone who wants to be in law enforcement, but might not want to be a police officer and crime mapping is becoming essential to “community policing” and patrol mapping. 3-Are certain childhood upbringings(wealthy, middle class, poor, ghetto etc) crucial in developing the ambition/ want to become a police officer. For example, I have no idea why I have always wanted to become a cop, but as I get older I realize I want to be a leader in the community. One who can help many and be looked up to by kids. I want to make a difference by taking away those who do not do good for the community Policing is not a job one takes just because they need a job. The majority of people become cops because they want to for any number of reasons. They come from all different backgrounds, black, white, Hispanic, male, female, gay or straight. It does not matter they background you come from, you will all have the same uniform and badge and that’s the unifying factor within policing. Also, I think you have noble reasons! J 4-As a police officer, what is the primary goal? What criminals do you focus on taking in the most? Does you degree in college/highschool or whatever increase/decrease your chance to get into certain divisions? I’m going to go with a clichéd answer of “protect and serve” for your first question. Second questions It depends on your departments goals a state trooper is not going to have the same focus as a deputy in a civil sheriff’s office. Likewise a municipal police officer is going to have a very different focus than either of the latter. I just depends on what kind of police work you want to do. If you want to spend all day pulling over truckers, an agency does that in my state. If you want to serve papers all day, find a civil sheriff’s office. If you like rural areas, you might consider becoming a deputy. Just depends on what you want to do.