Career Concerns in Police Work and the Process of Becoming a Police Officer

 Abstract

The essay will include information on what it takes to become a police officer. Specifically, what tests and exams an applicant needs to take in order to be accepted to a police academy and field training. The essay will also review the problems that might be connected with law enforcement occupation. It will give an explanation as to why and how the police subculture differs from others. This essay will show reasons the community-oriented policing took place, and how important the citizen involvement is to effective policing.
Career Concerns of Police Work and Process of Becoming a Police Officer

Career Concerns in Police Work

and the Process of Becoming a Police Officer

         Police gets tons of attention through negative and positive aspects, but regardless to all difficulties, it still attracts people to work in Law Enforcement.
       Once an applicant submits necessary documents, from which college degree is unofficial requirement (Schafer, 2001), he or she will need to pass a written test, oral interview, personal background, polygraph exam and medical history, results of which will be considered in hiring decision (Schmalleger & Worrall, 2010).
      After a candidate successfully passes all the stages of the hiring process and is offered employment, he or she will be sent to an academy for training. There are three types of academies distinguished: in-house, regional and state that provide training for future officers (Schmalleger & Worrall, 2010), where during several weeks experienced officers teach students how to fight, shoot, drive in a police car on a high speed and survive in tough circumstances. In an academy recruits learn all the necessary techniques and maneuvers that they will need to employ in their daily police work. Field training follows the academy graduation. During the field training, a student is assigned to an experienced field training officer (FTO) (Schmalleger & Worrall, 2010). On the field training, the new officer adjusts to agency regulations and procedures. He or she also learns problematical tasks that officers carry out regularly. At the culmination of the field training, the training officer will take a passive role in observing the new officer’sactions. Of course, before taking the important decision such as becoming a police officer he or she should also consider that there are many negative factors that come along with such a significant step. Those factors may include distress, when, as an example, a
suspect puts an officer on target, at the moment where the question between death and survival stands out before an officer, or eustress, such as satisfaction, when a policeman is finally able to take over of such situation, arrest the suspect and make sure that he goes directly behind the bars. It should also be mentioned that police work does not include just critical incidents with criminals, but the criminal justice system might be very demanding and boring as well. Furthermore, a career in this field could be even more stressful with all the public attention that is always around to catch the most negative sides of police work and place it on media sources, where, of course, the reaction of the public can be easily predicted. Not all of the media members for sure, are that evil like it seems most of the time. Periodically they can be very supportive, especially those who has had experienced the police work by being employed in law enforcement in the past. Organizational and administrative structure as well should be included in the list of negative issues that mostly affect lower ranks of police officials. As Joseph Schafer (2001) noticed that, “the traditional structure may lead to the emergence of a number of counterproductive psychological responses among employees. Suspicion is engendered between the ranks. Communication slows to a trickle” (Schafer, 2001).
         Police work is a hard job that includes also shifts when she or he will be required to work weekends, holidays and nights. Residency requirement can also take place, when officers should live in an area they serve. Female police applicants must be aware of sexual harassments that might happen in police agencies.
        A recruit should also know that police present a particular subculture that fundamentally vary from any others. Police carry its particular standards, customs and principles, that shape the unique police subculture. One of the factors that forms police subculture is its organization. Police work is usually divided into three shifts during which several squads of officers work together who at the beginning and the end of their work shifts discuss problems and accidents and share the unique police humor. Police organization follows the quasi-military model of structure where the chain of commands takes place and clarifies who answers to whom. Interaction with other criminal justice agencies and media also shape the policing. Once an officer is issued a gun and gets appointed over a patrolling area a sense of territoriality develops, when he or she feels that a particular piece of land he patrols “belongs” to him by knowing each street, alley, and a house in a corner and recognizing the residents by names. For sure, there is no doubt that the police work is dangerous and unpredictable, when an officer at the beginning of a shift has no idea how the end of it will look. Will it be a hilarious story to tell to fellow-officers by a cup of coffee or will it be the accident with serious injuries or even a death of an officer? All these facts make the police subculture exclusive, make police officers stick together and relate with one another, which is also known as solidarity (Schmalleger & Worrall, 2010). The police officers traditionally and historically carry the masculine values, what is sometimes challenging for female officers to go through the “barrier” leaving behind the labels of girlish sentimentality and feminine weakness.
               As it was mentioned above, police agencies do not formally require a college degree, but “college education equips officers with a set of skills and attitudes that make them better able to function in an organization which has adopted a community policing philosophy”(Schafer, 2001). How officers respond to community policing also depends on education.
               Problems in police-community relationship appeared with the development of transportation, radios and telephones during the reform era of policing (Oliver, 2004). At the end of 1970s, however, on the stage of community era, police made a significant step toward the community policing to break somehow the common imagination of a police officer, who sits in a closed car, drives around a community and reacts to disorder or a crime that already occurred (Schafer, 2001). They concluded that the community cooperation might be a very productive maneuver. Communicating with residents, organizing front store meetings, also could be helpful in preventing crime, while the community members or its third parties are willing to inform local departments of planning or ongoing offences, so the police could promptly react on such statements. The community-oriented policing is categorized in three components. They are strategic, neighborhood and problem-oriented policing (Oliver, 2004). The community policing programs are broken down into three groups; they are mobilizing citizens, informing citizens and engaging citizens (Schmalleger & Worrall, 2010).
      Community Involved policing should also be distinguished from the community policing. In the community involved policing process, the citizens potentially take part in the actual police process. Street patrolling may serve as an example, where non-sworn police volunteers are given radios and clothing to patrol the streets of their neighborhoods. Civilization occurred to be another step to progressing community involved policing that includes hiring non-sworn workers in order to save a department’s budget (Schmalleger & Worrall, 2010).
        The process of becoming a police officer does not require any particular preparation or college education, but, of course, is prefered. The police assessment test, medical test, oral interview, background check, medical history, polygraph exam and further academy and field trainings help the police administration to select the most preferable personnel, who with dignity will represent a police department. Every recruit should know what would expect him or her on his path as an officer, all the negative and positive sides of this job. Recruits should also understand the police subculture and the way it differs from civil cultures. It will be important for him or her to realize that the police work includes community serving as well, through which the civilians become familiar with hard and dangerous police work, and police desire to prevent and fight crime in the communities they serve, and have the relationship that leads to trust, collaboration with residents and crimeless neighborhoods.



References
Oliver, W.M. (2004). Community-Oriented Policing. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Schafer, J.A. (2001). Community Policing. LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC, New York: LFB Scholarly.
Schmalleger, F., & Worrall, J.L. (2010). Policing Today. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.