As mentioned prior the information provided here will give you a perspective from the inside and outside of the hiring process. This information comes from over 15 years of law enforcement experience ranging from being an applicant for my first police officer job to leading police departments as the chief of police and being a part of the hiring process. You will find more information on credentials further on in this blog.
In order to be hired on a law enforcement agency one must first decide they wish to enter the profession. There is no easy way to explain this, but you will know if you have an interest. You may have friends or relatives that are in the profession and have given you a taste of the job and what it entails. At one point you may have had contact with a law enforcement official and been exposed to the professionalism and lure of the business. In any case you will know if it is what you want to do.
If you are not sure, contact your local police agency and inquire about civilian ride-along programs, a citizen academy or an explorer program. These are tools that law enforcement agencies uses to educate the public regarding the profession and its duties. Once you express an interest, I would venture to say that the agency will try to help you in your inquiries. Most agencies are glad to assist the public in these community oriented endeavors as they are always seeking qualified candidates for future job openings.
If you are reading this blog then you must have some interest in the law enforcement profession. This is a good start as you are seeking out information to prepare yourself for the future hiring process. So let’s get going with the process.
How do I find a law enforcement job?
There are many sources to locate law enforcement jobs. They range from the newspaper classifieds, state job banking sites, the large well known job sites on the Internet, and many law enforcement specific periodicals in print and on the Internet. Most communities have web sites and an employment section is usually somewhere on the pages where current openings are posted. I cannot recommend one specific method to locate open jobs, but I can say that the Internet has a vast quantity of information and you should be able to find several openings in short time.
Recent economic turns have set some limits on the hiring of new personnel. You will have to be organized and diligent in your search for a police officer job. My suggestion is to create a simple database or list on a program. this should include information including dates of contact, who you contacted, phone numbers, and dates of application submission and testing.
You may choose one or two local departments that you wish to be hired on. This will limit your success to a degree as there are many applicants and few jobs available. The up turn to this method is that you know the area, have lived there and will have that as a positive on your application.
Another way of seeking a job will to be picking several areas that you may want to relocate to in order to get a law enforcement job. This may mean taking trips to the area in order to complete testing so be sure to plan this out in advance. Traveling can mean a few dollars spent so if you are going to travel to test if would be wise to test at several agencies while on this trip. You want to maximize your exposure for the money you spend to travel.
Included in the process may be an application, written testing, physical agility testing, oral board, background investigation, polygraph or computerized voice stress analysis, psychological evaluation medical exam and other testing as required. A few trips may be required so be prepared. This may seem like a lot to go through and may appear to be confusing to someone who has no knowledge of the process. It was for me my first few attempts. Not to worry, I will explain the process in simple terms.
In order to be hired on a law enforcement agency one must first decide they wish to enter the profession. There is no easy way to explain this, but you will know if you have an interest. You may have friends or relatives that are in the profession and have given you a taste of the job and what it entails. At one point you may have had contact with a law enforcement official and been exposed to the professionalism and lure of the business. In any case you will know if it is what you want to do.
If you are not sure, contact your local police agency and inquire about civilian ride-along programs, a citizen academy or an explorer program. These are tools that law enforcement agencies uses to educate the public regarding the profession and its duties. Once you express an interest, I would venture to say that the agency will try to help you in your inquiries. Most agencies are glad to assist the public in these community oriented endeavors as they are always seeking qualified candidates for future job openings.
If you are reading this blog then you must have some interest in the law enforcement profession. This is a good start as you are seeking out information to prepare yourself for the future hiring process. So let’s get going with the process.
How do I find a law enforcement job?
There are many sources to locate law enforcement jobs. They range from the newspaper classifieds, state job banking sites, the large well known job sites on the Internet, and many law enforcement specific periodicals in print and on the Internet. Most communities have web sites and an employment section is usually somewhere on the pages where current openings are posted. I cannot recommend one specific method to locate open jobs, but I can say that the Internet has a vast quantity of information and you should be able to find several openings in short time.
Recent economic turns have set some limits on the hiring of new personnel. You will have to be organized and diligent in your search for a police officer job. My suggestion is to create a simple database or list on a program. this should include information including dates of contact, who you contacted, phone numbers, and dates of application submission and testing.
You may choose one or two local departments that you wish to be hired on. This will limit your success to a degree as there are many applicants and few jobs available. The up turn to this method is that you know the area, have lived there and will have that as a positive on your application.
Another way of seeking a job will to be picking several areas that you may want to relocate to in order to get a law enforcement job. This may mean taking trips to the area in order to complete testing so be sure to plan this out in advance. Traveling can mean a few dollars spent so if you are going to travel to test if would be wise to test at several agencies while on this trip. You want to maximize your exposure for the money you spend to travel.
Included in the process may be an application, written testing, physical agility testing, oral board, background investigation, polygraph or computerized voice stress analysis, psychological evaluation medical exam and other testing as required. A few trips may be required so be prepared. This may seem like a lot to go through and may appear to be confusing to someone who has no knowledge of the process. It was for me my first few attempts. Not to worry, I will explain the process in simple terms.
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