job description

I am currently a police officer at the Seattle Police Department's North Precinct. I have been there since February of 2005, so it's been almost three years.

I mostly do 911 call response when I'm patrolling, but I also do neighborhood policing, which is basically neighborhood patrol, as well as check up on businesses that have had problems in the past. I am also a school resource officer for different high schools around the area. My precinct encompasses the entire greater Seattle area, so there's a sufficient amount of area to cover.

It was kind of something that I wanted to do since I was a little kid. Obviously I couldn't do it then, so now I'm pursuing it because I'm older. For some people, they become a cop because their family members were cops, and it's sort of a family tradition. For the rest of us, it's just something that we have wanted to do. It's hard to explain the exact reasoning or inspiration, but that's the main reason why I became a police officer.

I would have to say that I am just a "regular" police officer. The city calls us Peace Officers, because we deal with pretty standard stuff that helps to keep the peace on the streets. There are special groups or units that specialize in specific things, such as community police teams or warranty teams. We are the patrol unit, and usually deal with pretty standard stuff, such as parking tickets and accidents.

I usually work five days a week, for nine to ten hours every shift. It usually balances out to a 40-hour workweek. There are different shifts as well. There's the early shift, which is usually from 3:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., the midshift, which is from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and the late or graveyard shift, which is usually from 6:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. I usually work the early shift. You can switch shifts, but most people stay with what they have. You can change it up too in order to make it work for your schedule. They'd rather keep you there and happy than have you quit. You can also work jobs outside of the precinct, such as security jobs. That can add a lot of money to your income as well.

education & career path

In order to become a police officer, you must go to a state-sponsored academy: In this case, it would be the Washington State Police Academy. The academy taught by any officer who's already received training and who has been in the force for a certain number of years. You spend about 20 weeks in the state-sponsored academy, and then after that you go through another month learning about your specific regional laws: For example, the laws of Seattle are different from the laws in Spokane. You must know all the specific laws before you can start actually working.

It really depends on the department. Some departments require a minimum of two years of college, while others don't require any. My department in particular doesn't require any college to become an officer. Some departments have a college incentive though: The officers who have a college degree get a bonus on top of their salary. It's not required though.

It is based more on mental performance rather than physical performance. One important factor they look at is your moral compass within a given situation. They look at your moral intentions within a situation, rather than what you would necessarily do. It's how they weed out the bad or "dirty" cops from the good ones. They also look at your mental ability more than physical, because you never know what's going to happen on a shift, and you need to know how to make spilt-second decisions and to change and go with the flow.

You are actually hired by your department before you go the academy. The selection process, from the time you complete your application until you are selected by your department, can take anywhere from six months to one year. After you are selected, your department sends you to the police academy to get trained. They pay for the academy training, as well as pay you while you're completing training. That way, you can devote all your time to training to be in the force and don't have to worry about making money to earn a living.

my day

I work about nine hours every day I work. I do the morning shift, which is from 3:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. When I arrive at the station, we do a 30-minute role call, where we make account for everyone who is supposed to be working, as well as get our neighborhood assignments. Then we split into five areas, and inside our areas we get our district responsibilities. We are also read any new announcements, as well as any new information that we should know. Then we clean up the cars and are ready to go. I don't have a partner with me in the car, because we actually have a shortage of people and are not able to staff two officers to a car. We usually start shifts by cleaning up tasks that the shift beforehand didn't have the time to attend to, such as noise complaints, various paper work, etc. Then we begin to patrol our assigned districts to simply check out the scenes and check out what looks right and what looks wrong. We also do 911 call responses during our whole shift, as well as do traffic patrolling. Some shifts are spent doing boring work, such as stolen car reports, and then there are shifts that are more exciting, it really just depends.

Oh yes, lots of variety comes with being a police officer. About 99 percent of the population is just trying to get by and live their life, and then there's the one percent who causes trouble. We as police get to deal with the one percent. We see the stuff that normal people don't get to see, which can be scary and exciting at the same time.

It was mostly routine stuff, but it was dominated by the weather because it had snowed the night before. We closed down streets that were too icy, we did checks on people to see if they were ok and we also dealt with giving people welfare checks if they called and needed them. The most exciting case today was an assault case in which a fight had gotten out of control, but overall it was a pretty routine day. There were no Priority 1 calls, which are the kind of calls that take a boring day to an overwhelming day.

I love my colleagues. It's like a whole other family. It's not too often that you can trust someone with your life, and know they trust you with theirs. In some ways, they're like brothers and sisters to me. Police officers will usually spend more time with the people they work with than with their families. But it's not too bad though because the family is also a part of the department: Everyone knows everyone else's family.

We usually work with the same group of people. Because you usually work the same shift every day that you work, you also get to know the people in your watch very well. We don't really change it up too much. As I like to say: Cops are creatures of habit.

The atmosphere at the precinct is pretty laid back, mostly because of the hours that we work. In the morning, we have the smallest watch—there are only three people—and so are really close. We goof around a lot to keep the spirit light. We see a lot of bad stuff, and if you don't goof around and try to keep things relaxed and fun, then the job will eat you up inside. It's our way to help each other stay sane. I would also compare it to a high school locker room in some ways because of goofing around and joking that is always present.

salary & lifestyle

It definitely changes the way that you look at the world. Because you see more than the average person, you are constantly aware of what is going on around you, and can look at ordinary events and see where the problem might arise. It also changes how you relate to other people, because not everyone likes police officers. Some officers won't share their occupation with certain people because they don't want people to label them as something they aren't. It can also change how people interact with you, which is another reason why cops won't always share their occupation. People will sometimes act funny, or think that what you do is what they see on Cops. Because you spend so much time on the job, being a cop can also change the crowd you hang out with. Cops usually hang out with other cops more often, because they understand how you feel when you've had a bad day or how you feel about certain issues about the job.

Washington State pays a lot better than most states, but the average starting salary is around $50,000 and can top off at about $80,000. It's mostly based on experience and where you work. You can definitely add to your salary though by taking security jobs off-duty. The benefits though that I get along with my salary are what make it all worth it: I get medical, dental, vision and retirement benefits. I'm pretty well taken care of for basically the rest of my life because of this job.

Once a year I have to go a street skills class, which is basically a refresher of the skills that I use on a day-to-day basis when I work. We also have to go to a firearms class, where we learn how to operate different guns. Every two years, we do a class where we learn how to drive an ambulance. We also do hazardous materials and terrorist training every year to learn what to do in those situations. If something like that ever did happen, we wouldn't stop working, so it's all very important training. We also have to read up on any new laws that are passed.

It does it up a lot of your time, and what we do is not the safest job out there. It can and will have an impact on families and relationships. Sometimes relationships will end sometimes because the person who isn't a police officer doesn't want to deal with the stress of being with someone who is one. If you have a family, it affects you when you're at home, because when you are at home, you're usually sleeping and very tired. The divorce rate is unfortunately very high amongst police officers. It just depends though on how much you let it affect your life.

pros, cons & trends

Initially, I thought it was very overwhelming. I was dealing with and having to work with all new people. I was also getting used to the job: Having to go talk to the crazy people that I would usually just walk away from, and stuff like that. It was also very exciting: Initially, I thought it was going to be like what I had seen on television, but I got over that really quick once I saw how it was in reality. My first few months, I was a combination of stressed and excited. The really cool thing about starting the job was how many 'firsts' I got to experience: The first time I got to put my police lights on and drive fast, the first time I arrested someone, the first time I pulled someone over, all stuff like that. It was sort of like being a little kid again, and being able to experience everything for the first time all over again.

We do a lot of the mundane, day-to-day work, but when we get a call from someone who is at their worst, and who needs our help, it is an amazing feeling to know that we are it; we are the ones who could save their life. I also like knowing that evil is off the streets, which is what I feel when I arrest someone bad and put them in jail. It's really cool knowing that everyday, you make a difference in someone's life, and also help to make society better.

My least favorite thing would have to be when we meet people on the day-to-day job who don't realize that we are regular people. We make mistakes too, just like everyone else. We are also very underappreciated. We can do all the work on a case, and people won't even take notice unless we make a mistake and don't get something right—then they're all over us. People really don't care about what we do unless it affects them. It can be very frustrating sometimes.

I feel very stable being a police officer. I will always have a job, wherever I go. Wherever you live, be it here in the United States or any other country, there will always be cops. We are always going to be needed, regardless of what happens in the world.

advice

I would have to say the first thing you need is a pretty good set of morals. Your personal morals guide the decisions that you ultimately end up making, which is a big part of being a police officer. It's also important to be able to think quickly on your feet. Things are never the same on a day-to-day basis, and you need to be able to go with whatever happens and to know what you are going to do in any given situation. Most of the other stuff, like memorization, can be taught, but these two things I think are fundamental to becoming a police officer.

I would say to really, really learn about it before you get started. Do research on what is involved, talk to people who are police officers, whatever you have to do. If you really know that this is something that you want to pursue, I would suggest doing a ride-along with an officer in the department where you want to work. Anyone can do a ride-along: You simply have to go to the police station and tell them that you want to do one, and they'll make you fill out some paperwork. I think one of the biggest things people learn from the ride-along is that there's a lot of paperwork stuff involved with being a police officer. I would suggest doing a couple ride-alongs, and with different people and at different times. That way you get a sense for what the job is like at different times of the day, and are able to get a broader sense of it as well. If, after all that, you still want to be a police officer, I would say go for it.

I plan on being at this job for 24 more years, to be exact. After officers reach a certain age, sometimes they will go to less active stations or where the calls aren't as intense. After I retire, which will be sometime in my 50s, I plan on ending my career as a police officer. I will be able to retire well though: Everyone in the department gets a pension check every month after they retire. A lot of us also have private retirement accounts that we've already started, and our job also puts some of our paycheck in there every month. So once I do decide to retire, it will be very comfortably and with no worries about money. That's another plus to being a police officer: The retirement plans are very nice.