Desire to Be a Police Officer - Essay Example

Robert Lagasse Why do I Want to be a Police Officer after I Graduate Lincoln College Introduction For as long as I can remember, I have been inspiredby the boys in blue. Of course my earliest opinion of police officers was formed by what was fed to me by the media and television shows. However, as I grew up and learned more about this group of dedicated public servants, I was able to realize that there is a lot more to police work than simply chasing down offenders on the highways. The police do a lot more than catch criminals after they have committed a crime because they keep our society safe from crime even before it happens. At the very root of the matter is the nature of police work, i.e. helping the community that the officers belong to. Of course a person can also help their community by becoming a social worker or a scientist but I feel that the input made by these individuals is more evident on the bigger picture. Individuals and groups on a smaller scale have to be in direct government functionaries and the front line for maintaining law and order in a society has always been the civil police of the country. This ability to have direct contact with people and having a broad level of authority to help those in need makes a police officer much more useful than a scientist since a scientist may never get to see the eventual effect of his/her invention or discovery in their lifetime. A police officer who stops a crime in progress or catches a criminal can immediately see the effect on society even if it is one person at a time. Existing Research Since police work and the police force are controlled by the government, most of the information regarding a career in the police comes from government sources and related websites. Perhaps the best source of information about working in the police comes from the U.S. Department of Labor (2006) which has extensive information about the earnings, nature of the work, working conditions, required training and job outlook for this profession. It would appear that the nature of police work is similar across the globe since consistent topics and information was found on London’s Metropolitan Police website (2002) regarding the work performed by the police and the outlook of the chosen career. The research also shows that police work is not limited to the cities since state and federal police have their own jurisdictions and spheres of operations. The U.S. marshal’s website (2006) for example, lists the broad focus that marshals have had as the oldest law enforcement agency for protecting the law in America. Similarly, the U.S. Secret Service website (2002) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security information page (2006) show how police does a lot more than apprehension of crime. They also offer interesting insights into how a career in the police can be expanded, adapted and developed to give a police officer more options for the future. There is also a sobering reminder of what the work entails since the National COPS (Concerns of Police Survivors) website (2006) shows us the police line is also dangerous and if a person is not careful they could lose their life in their chosen field. Introduction to the Research Since I wanted immediate access to information with a high validity of the sources, most of the sources selected for research are government websites. Although I have made up my mind to join the police force, I have to be realistic about the decision and see where it would take me as a professional. Therefore the sections on employment and job opportunities are especially useful for the research on a career as a police officer. Similarly, for research on public opinions about the police and the hot topic of police brutality, I found that the topic is still well and alive in the media as well as in the minds of the public since there are one or two news stories every month about the topic. Most recently in March this year, I found an editorial (Nyberg, 2006) from the Forest Park Review which discusses the negative impact of Police brutality and the (positive and negative) image of the police in the minds of the public when they hear such stories. Despite the association of some negative image, the general research sources show that the traditional westernized image of the police officer is still generally positive (U.S. Department of Labor, 2006) since they perform a wide range of services other than police duties and law enforcement (U.S. Secret Service, 2002). I believe that the information I found can be used to form the opinion that a career as a police office is a viable option for someone with my background, training and education. Research Findings Perhaps the most important research findings come from the U.S. Department of Labor (2006) which describes how police officers can enter a wide variety of related careers and can expand their future horizons by going into fields like forensics, cyber crimes (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2006) and protection services as well as by establishing their own private investigation companies. From a business point of view, this is important because we can not be sure of the future and it is necessary that a selected career gives a person room to grow and change with the future. There are also some negatives associated with police work which have been given as a danger to life and limb in the course of active field service, unusually long hours, work in late shifts, frequent overtime requirements on holidays and weekends. Additionally, police work never stops since in some areas officers are expected to be continually armed and stop crime as an on-duty police officer wherever they see it happen. Police jobs with higher responsibilities i.e. federal agents and Secret Service operatives may be required to travel extensively and take further training courses for advancement in their careers (U.S. Department of Labor, 2006). However, the overall learning and the career itself is a reward for those who choose to take it up. A personal sense of responsibility and duty must be present in the individual along with the ambition to protect and serve the nation. This is why every year more than 150 police officer lay down their lives while providing protection to more than 240 million Americans (National COPS, 2006). The basic salary given to a police corporal is between 41 and 51 thousand dollars per annum which can not be enough to make them willing to die for a cause. The spirit and the motivation to work as a police officer must come from some other source than plain money. Interpretations of Research It is my opinion that the research results do not clearly show why someone would want to be a police officer. They do give some general guidelines as to what police work entails and why a person should join the police force of their country but the intrinsic motivation and the drive towards being a part of the police is difficult to explain. I think that every police officer took up the career with some high ideal in mind and even though it is generally accepted that there is a tremendous amount of effort, paperwork, training and practice involved in the field (London Metropolitan Police, 2005), there have to be rewards which are more than money to keep someone in a profession as tough as this. It has also been noted that college graduates have a much better chance of attaining higher posts in police work (U.S. Department of Labor, 2006) therefore I am sure a college degree would certainly help in this career. Moreover, I had doubts that police work would be a dead-end career since there was no room for expansion or breadth to change the field of work from simple law enforcement and protection of civilians. I was pleasantly surprised to find that police officers can opt for protecting anything from the president of the United States to game and fish in Montana. The work done by the police includes relief efforts in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina to traffic control on the streets of Baghdad. To me this means that a person in the police actually gets to make a difference in the quality of life for the people they are with. Conclusions In my opinion, after completing and studying about the police profession in detail, I feel that I am more eager than ever to join the boys in blue. I have learned how they work, what places they can go to perform their services and how they are ready to lay down their lives if the situation calls for it. They defend and protect us from elements which should not be a part of our lives and support our civilization in ways which deserve more reward than they get. My concerns about a future in the field have been allied since I have learnt that being a police officer is a lot more than writing tickets. A police officer can hope to prevent a hacker from taking down our air traffic control network or even act as a human shield for the president of his/her country. More than ever, I was impressed by the learning opportunities and the positions a police officer can have through the course of their career. Overall, I feel much more satisfied about my decision and career path selection since I know that I will be achieving my own dream of helping my community and can afford to aim much higher. Works Cited U.S. Department of Labor. “Police and Detectives”. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2006. bls.gov. 20 Mar. 2006. London Metropolitan Police. “Police Officer”. Metropolitan Police. 2005. London Metropolitan Police. 21 Mar. 2006. U.S. Marshals Service. “Oldest Federal Law Enforcement Agency”. United States Marshals Service. 2006. usmarshals.gov 20 Mar. 2006. U.S. Secret Service. “United States Secret Service”. Secret Service. 2002. treas.gov. http://www.treas.gov/usss/ U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “Threats and Protection”. Department of Homeland Security. 2006. dhs.gov. 21 Mar. 2006. National COPS. “COPS home”. Concerns of Police Survivors. 2006. nationalcops.org. 21 Mar. 2006 Nyberg, C. “Defenders of police brutality must wake up and face facts” Forest Park Review. 2006. ForestParkReview.com 23 Mar. 2006. Website Lynch, Tim. "DSN Trials and Tribble-ations Review." Psi Phi: Bradleys      Science Fiction Club. 1996. Bradley University. 8 Oct. 1997 . Read More