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

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