Police Education & Job Training

In Law Enforcement many hiring standards differ from agency to agency, but in most agencies the requirement of education minimum is a high school diploma (some agencies may accept a General education Development Diploma or GED)  and there is often no limit on how much education on can have higher than a High school Diploma. Higher Education for law enforcement fields are typically Law & Criminal Justice programs, which are offered by many colleges or technical institutes Including the University of Washington’s Law programs or Lynnwood’s DeVry University in a degree in Digital Forensics or policing.

In the state of Washington all Police recruits (newley hired individuals) must complete seven hundred and twenty hours of BLEA training within six months of hiring before becoming a peace officer. This ~Six month paid education is required training which takes place at the Washington Police Academy. Hours are approximately 7:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday to Friday, hours may differ depending program changes or on courses being taken. The setting for this education has been described to me like an community college experience. There are no military style salutes or barking orders, but candidates are there to learn policing excellence and must study and train hard. While this experience is not a “Full Metal Jacket” movie style boot camp experience There will be many physically straining avenues of Police education such as physical exercise on a regular basis, specialized vehicular training and even eventually being pepper sprayed and or tazed (a prerequisite to carrying a taser or pepper spray/mace as a officer). Each candidate will study and learn the same curriculum at Academy, specialized training/education (in Washington state)  will not occur likely for 4-5 years after you’ve completed academy and become a sworn Officer. After completing Academy training you will work briefly with four different districts to complete your training, rotating from one to the next until returning to the first for evaluation of progress to pass onto becoming a sworn peace officer. Sworn officers are the first step of a police career, they must work several years as patrol before being eligible to pursue different career paths. Also after two years as a sworn Officer a Officer may elect to do paid off duty work with companies employing off duty Officers.

https://fortress.wa.gov/cjtc/www/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15&Itemid=103

http://get-started.devry.edu/liberal-arts?ca.mp=GOOGLE&ab.sc=ps_adw_dvu_core-nonbrand-desktop_208925_pfx&cmpid=ps_adw_dvu_core-nonbrand-desktop_208925_pfx&vc=208925&ca.kw=%2Bcriminal%20%2Bjustice%20%2Bprograms&ca.target=kwd-298420968463&ca.cr=218590898361&ca.mt=b&cb.device=c&KWID=43700024814627704&SC_1=EAIaIQobChMIyIjzmt_d2QIVAWh-Ch086QroEAAYASAAEgKi-_D_BwE&SC_2=%2Bcriminal%20%2Bjustice%20%2Bprograms&cid=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyIjzmt_d2QIVAWh-Ch086QroEAAYASAAEgKi-_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Officer Pay & Work Environment

Within my state, which is all I can speak about in terms of police pay, contrary to popular belief and media bias police officers take home a very respectable wage. In other words officers are well compensated for the demanding tasks they do.police recruits earn $28.21 for 720 hours they train during the academy. As soon as they become a Sworn officer makes 33.16 an hour $69,240 annually. Pay progresses at 6 months, 18 months, 30 months, 42 months & 54 months. At 54 months of employment with Seattle Police an Officer may make $43.43 an hour and take home $90,672 annually (but possible make more or less depending on what career path within the police departments over 40 careers they pursue) .

The work environment of an officer can be very dynamic depending on the sub-sect of police they are employed with. For example patrol officers operate in variety of environments on a daily basis. It’s often unknown at the start of the day where you may end up responding to calls and patrol routes can vary day to day. Officers may operate within any establishment or even private residence (that they are legally permitted to enter) as well of course any and all public places. The conditions officers operate in may include unpleasant sensory input like loud music, unpleasant smells, unpleasant individuals with rude and or aggressive demeanor. An officer may not always be in for such unpleasantness but what I’ve been told is the persons you respond to are often having the worst day of their lives, and as such will react like it. The summary of this is officers work in constantly changing and evolving situations and must be able to respond too and work past plethora's or unpleasant stimuli, and this seems true for most police jobs. Some officers may work more in a typical desk environment and spend much of the day writing and typing for their career. Careers that may lean this way are Detectives, Community relations, etc.

Department, Seattle Police. Seattle Police Jobs Pamphlet. Seattle, WA: Seattlepolicejobs.com, 2018. Print.

Police Relations News: State of the union.

The State of policing; Danger on all sides?

It’s no secret that tensions between the public and law enforcement are high. Both sides are keen to admit this, with seemingly record numbers of officer involved shootings AND shootings of officers the law and the public seem wary to each other. As of writing this 123 individuals have been killed in officer involved incidents and 19 Officers have been killed in the line of duty all this just this year. For both “sides” these are frightening numbers, but Law in enforcement and the public are not “sides” we are all members of the same communities, and these days it appears to many that we’re all in danger. But these numbers are not the highest yet recorded nor even abnormal compared to last year at this time per say, so why is dustrust on the rise?

The ability of social media and news media to share information allows incidents to reach the public eye rapidly, and with such scrutiny from fear of wrongful shootings our eyes are seemingly trained to spot any police incidents. Breaking down the shootings of individuals in 2018 you will find the great majority of those shot were armed with firearms or bladed weapon, far from the unwarmed shootings both the public and law enforcement fear & dread, it's not (only) wrongful deaths that solely contribute to public scrutiny, it's unfortunate outcomes to everyday situations which quickly become publicised, shared and that fear begins to build. For example just days ago  in my state officers responded to call reporting an intruder in Tukwila, after arrival and while interviewing the person whom called the Police they per standard procedure entered the victims name into the National Crime Information Center database, which pulled up an outstanding warrant. The individual was detained and exchanged to the agency which the warrant from issue from. This warrant turned out to not be issued by a judge for capture of a criminal but rather was an disguised administrative ICE warrant. Now for doing their do diligence reporting a potential crime on his very household this man faces potential deportation, in a sanctuary city… This incident was quickly documented and garnered an unknown volume of views in various media forms.  Distrust sews quickly when particularly unsettling stories make waves. In the Polices word similar erie events have taken root in 2018 as well.

Just in 2018 so far 19 officers have died in the line of duty, at rapid rates;

“In the first six weeks of the year, 11 law enforcement officers across the United States have died after they were shot in the line of duty.

Six of them died in just one week, said Craig Floyd with the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

It's a big jump from the five recorded during the same period in 2017, according to data from the memorial fund.”

It’s events like wrongful a deportation Wilson Rodriguez Macarreno in Washington or feared wrongful shootings that shake the public, and events like the fatal shooting of Commander Paul Bauer in Chicago, and 12 police shot dead around the country in 2018 alone (including an officer here in my home state of Washington).  

Tensions are undoubtedly high, that's no question. The question is how may we fix it? I have no definitive answer but in my mind an assault of compassion and understanding must be given on all fronts, by all peoples involved. As Precincts around the country begin to take strides to improve community relations and reach out the public should attempt the same. Our protectors are less effective if we fear them , & they fear us. But all hope is far from lost, the rut we may feel in now might seem severe but it will be overcome, across our country people are seeking change on the side of the public and the police. I’ll end this blog post now with a sad note but rather a fact of the coming future:  Change is happening, and hardship will be overcome.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/13/us/tukwila-police-ice-detain-trnd/index.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-off-duty-officer-shot-downtown-20180213-story.html

https://www.odmp.org/search/year/2018

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/national/police-shootings-2018/?utm_term=.322e68b06daf

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/12/us/officer-shooting-deaths-2018-trnd/index.html

Law Enforcement career information/Job description!

Law enforcement careers entail public service/protection on a daily basis with often long hours.
These careers are highly tasking and require great communication skills and tolerance of unpleasant
situations / encounters. Officers are required to speak clearly to communicate with members of the
public and listen thoroughly as well. Officers need to be able to explain concepts/rules clearly to
individuals. Along with social skills officers require dexterous skills such as ability to manipulate
restraints, equipment, firearms, and even individuals whom are being detained. Officers must be
able to operate motor vehicles adeptly as most officers drive themselves and others daily, and on
occasion moving at high speeds may be necessary and as such vehicle operation safety & skills are
crucial. As an overarching theme Officers must be highly aware of their actions, the situations they
enter, personal decision making, and the manner in which they interact with the public must be the
utmost excellent.

"Police officers protect lives and property." (Bureau)

The above summary from WOIS career info may sound very technical, and it is, but Law Enforcement

careers are essentially exactly what you expect AND exactly what you don’t!  Everyone thinks about
traffic stops, ticketing, arresting out-of-line individuals but what many don’t think of is paperwork,
A LOT of paperwork. Police officers make vast usage of their language arts skills. Paper trails are
essential to chain of command, arrests, tickets, and everything. From my past experience in my
job shadow with Officer Adrian Diaz & presentations from Police recruiter and Detective Carrie
Mcnally as well as my research for this post I can tell you that policing requires paperwork and fluency
in written communication.At any time an officer may be required to write anything from email
responses, tickets, reports, memos, you name it. This side of the job is  lesser mentioned.

Another lesser known part of Law Enforcement Careers is the magnitude of options for career
progression within the field. While you may think with ease of titles like Sheriff, Chief, swat the
depth beyond those are substantial. Specific Jobs within police can include Bomb Squad, Community
relations, Recruitment, Police Detectives, K9 Units, and much more totaling 40 distinct career paths.
And the astounding part to me is each of those I’ve listed have their own sub branches and chains
of command, where promotion and career progression is attainable! My personal experience has
astounded me with just how specialized Law Enforcement careers can become!  Related careers
outside of Police are things such as forest Rangers, Security guards, Border patrol, Corrections
Officers,  Firefighters, Emergency Medical Technicians, and many more. Careers where an
individual is given power in management of relations with members of the public are typically
similar to law enforcement.

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Police and Detectives,

on the Internet at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/protective-service/police-and-detectives.htm (visited January 30, 2018).

WOIS Carrer Information, “WOIS - Patrol Officers.”,  Created by IntoCAREERS, a Unit of the University of Oregon.,
www.wois.org/use/careers/viewer.cfm?occnum. (Visited January 30th, 2018)  

In person Informational interviews/Job Shadows  conducted by myself, Duncan Weigel, various dates.

Introduction/Primer!

Greetings,

and welcome to my Blog! "Could I Be a Cop?" is a career research blog focused on Law Enforcement
careers! My name is Duncan, I’m a 19 year old living in Washington state with a large interest in Law
Enforcement & helping everyone around me, coming from diverse backgrounds my experience with my
community has lead me to interest in being a patrol officer, as well as community relations  and restorative
justice. I seek the experience of meeting new people, making connections every day all while helping and
maintaining communities around me, this idea I believe could reflect the day to day experience of a patrol
officer. My idea of myself of an officer would stand out by projecting compassion to those around me.
I consider myself soft spoken and sometimes shy but I feel I break out of my shell and shine when I’m
able to help, troubleshoot, and otherwise resolve issues for anyone & everyone around me, I think this is
where being an Officer would suit me.

   

This Blog will focus on research via primary and secondary sources on Law Enforcement careers (in the
area of Washington state specifically) as well as personal reflection on myself and my eligibility for a
potential career as an Officer. I'd like to invite you to join me over the next 9 weeks & 6 more Posts as
I catalog research done both of my own primary sources collected on my Job Shadows and Informational
interviews, hands on experience, as well sourced and organized information pieces using highly
pertinent secondary research. I hope that by the end of this Blog experience my compiled information
may help serve anyone interested in law enforcement to better understand the career and opportunities
of the field and hopefully finally answer the question;

     Could I Be a Cop?