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Careers In Law
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A Guide To The
Basics Provided by the through the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School ©1996 There
are nearly 800,000 police officers in the WHAT
ARE YOU GETTING YOURSELF INTO? The Yarmouth
Police Department has fifty-nine sworn police officers, fifteen civilian
employees including a mechanic, clerical staff, and public safety telecommunicators, three K-9s, and over twenty reserve
police officers. We operate 39
vehicles, several bicycles, two 4x4 ATVs and a motorcycle. Our operating budget is about 6 million
dollars a year. We serve a community
of 26,000 year-round residents plus as many as 60,000 to 70,000 visitors at
the height of the tourist season. The
Yarmouth Police Department is a community oriented agency and we truly are “Committed To Our Community”. Many
new recruits are surprised to find out that law enforcement is not all
catching the bad guys. Police work is
a service-oriented people business.
The Yarmouth Police Department responds to more than 40,000 calls for
service a year. We handle a wide range
of situations, from bank robberies and domestic disturbances to giving
directions to lost tourists and providing information at neighborhood
meetings. Most of those calls were
service activities as opposed to law enforcement calls. The Yarmouth Police Department,
like many other agencies, runs a Citizen Police Academy. This intensive program provides the
participants with a tremendous amount of information about what police work
is really like and can be an excellent resource to those considering law
enforcement as their career field. HOW
DO I GET A JOB IN LAW ENFORCEMENT? Watch
the newspapers! Most agencies must
advertise when they begin their hiring process. If you do not know when they are hiring,
then you cannot apply. Every law
enforcement agency has its own hiring process, but many of the elements are
generally the same. Here is the hiring
process of the Yarmouth Police Department as a typical
example. Only applicants who pass each
stage move on to the next: ·
An ad for applicants is placed in various newspapers. ·
A general-knowledge written test is administered. ·
Background investigations are conducted on applicants who
meet or exceed a set cut-off score. ·
Those applicants are then interviewed by a board of senior
Yarmouth Police Officers. Some
applicants will be eliminated base upon their interview. ·
A smaller number of applicants are then interviewed by a
representative from the office of the Chief of Police and
from the Town Administrator’s Office (usually the Chief and Town Administrator
themselves) ·
A list is formed and each applicant has a specific ranking
on that list. ·
As openings come up, a conditional offer of employment is
extended to the person ranked number one on the list. ·
Applicants are given a psychological screening to ensure
they have the appropriate disposition for police work. A physical screening is also conducted to
ensure an applicant is physically capable of doing the job. ·
A Physical Ability Test (PAT) is held
that, by law, each candidate must pass in order to be hired as a police
officer in the Commonwealth. The PAT
standards are set by the Massachusetts Human Resources Division and the test is conducted by their
personnel. Applicants must also meet
the criteria for acceptance to the academy as set by the Municipal Police Training Committee. Applicants
passing all phases and accepting the job are appointed as police officers by
the Honorable Board of Selectmen.
Unless they are already academy trained, new hires are given a date on
which they begin the six months of police academy training. This
process is typical for an agency about the size of the Yarmouth
Police Department. The process will
vary from agency to agency. A very
large number of law enforcement agencies in MAKE YOURSELF MARKETABLE Law
enforcement is generally a buyer’s market.
In other words, there are more applicants than there are jobs. Most agencies have the luxury of picking
and choosing who they want. Making
yourself marketable is crucial. COLLEGE
EDUCATION While
some agencies do not require a college degree, almost all prefer a minimum of
an Associates Degree. Degrees in Criminal Justice, Emergency Management
or similar fields are preferred. The Yarmouth Police Department now
require an applicant have at least 60 college credits, the equivalent of
about two years of high education or one qualifications of the categories
below to apply. MILITARY
SERVICE The Yarmouth Police will accept an Honorable
Discharge from any branch of the United States Armed Forces in lieu of the 60
credit requirement. Civil Service also
provides for a military preference in its testing process. EXPERIENCE Applicants
who come to the job with some type of experience are very attractive. Many agencies have some type of reserve,
auxiliary, or cadet program where prospective police officers can get their
feet wet and gain valuable experience and training. The armed forces also offer excellent
training and experience in their Military Police Schools, both on active duty
and in the reserves. One of the newest
qualifications for application to the Yarmouth Police Department is
a recruit police academy certification and one year of full-time police
experience. POLICE
ACADEMY TRAINING Applicants
who are graduates of a Municipal Police Training Committee
approved police academy are very desirable. The hiring police department can put the
academy trained applicant to work immediately and not wait the normal four
month training lag between hiring and active duty. Most applicants who are already academy
trained are coming from other police departments where they have had the
opportunity to get some experience under their belt. A few others are sponsored by a police
department. These people are few and
far between because they must commit to the rigors of four months of training
without pay. They are also responsible
for providing their own uniforms, equipment, and health insurance. Not many agencies participate in
sponsorship. CRIMINAL
RECORD You
must keep your nose clean. Even the
smallest infraction on your record can keep you from getting a job. Many state and federal laws carry a
prohibition from carrying a firearm upon conviction. In minor cases where no prohibition exists,
the impact can still be significant.
Think of it this way: if it
came down to someone with a “minor in possession of alcohol” charge on his or
her record, or the next person whose record is clean, who would you pick to
be a police officer? PART-TIME
OPPORTUNITIES Many
cities and towns including those on the Cape & Islands have part-time
police officers. Reserve, special, or auxiliary
police officers are used to increase manpower to meet the needs of the
seasonal population increases, and during special or major police
deployments. The Yarmouth
Police Department has a moderate number of reservists on our
roster. The hiring process resembles
our regular hiring process very closely and it to is very competitive. A background investigation is conducted on
all new hires. Those hired must
complete the Reserve/Intermittent Recruit Officer Course
training course approved by the Municipal Police Training Committee. This program offers prospective police
officers a taste of the real thing and provides them with some very valuable
training and experience. FULL-TIME OPPORTUNITIES MUNICIPAL
(LOCAL) Municipal
government is the home of the bulk of police employment opportunities. The average police agency in the
COUNTY Sheriff's
departments in Massachusetts, like the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office are
primarily responsible for corrections and not law enforcement, though some
have a small staff of criminal investigators whose role is to provide
forensic and photographic support to local police departments and act as
clearing houses for information such as fingerprints. In other parts of CAMPUS
LAW ENFORCEMENT Most
large colleges and universities maintain a private police force on
campus. In many cases these officers
are granted their arrest powers by the local or state government where the
campus is located. These officers
receive their basic academy and in-service training alongside municipal
police officers at state accredited training centers. Campus police agencies such as the Boston
College Police, Assumption College Campus Police,
and the University
of Massachusetts Police (Amherst) offer tremendous career
opportunities and excellent benefits packages. STATE The Massachusetts
State Police is a large agency that offers a diverse range of
specialty units from ballistics to aviation.
The State Police hold their own civil service style entrance exam and
academy when they have a need to hire new troopers. The Massachusetts State Police Academy is
located in New Braintree. The state
also operates other agencies such as the Environmental
Police, and the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) Transit
Police. Some of these
agencies are Civil Service subscribers. OPPORTUNITIES AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL The
federal government has a large number of law enforcement agencies, usually
with small staffs. Almost every federal
agency has some law enforcement branch within it. These agencies have a wide range of
jurisdictions and specialties to choose from.
Most train new recruits at the Federal
Law Enforcement Training Center.
Each has its own extensive hiring process. This is just a partial list. ·
Bureau
of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives · Drug Enforcement Administration ·
Federal
Bureau of Investigation ·
United States Marshals Service Department of Homeland
Security ·
Immigration
& Customs Enforcement ·
Transportation
Security Administration o Coast
Guard Investigative Service ·
United States Secret Service ·
United States Postal Inspection Service (the oldest law enforcement agency in the Other
federal departments that have one or more law enforcement agencies under
their auspice: o
Defense Criminal Investigative Service ·
Environmental Protection Agency (Criminal Enforcement) ·
Social Security Administration o Office
of the Inspector General ·
United States Congress o
United States Capitol Police o
MILITARY LAW ENFORCEMENT Each
branch of the armed forces is served by its own law enforcement agency. The Army
and Marines have the Military Police Corps; the
Air Force has Security
Police; the Navy,
Master at Arms.
Each branch has battlefield obligations on top of its law enforcement
responsibility. They are each charged
with security, force protection, and law enforcement on military
installations at home and abroad.
Serious crimes are investigated by the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command (C.I.D.), and the Air Force
Office of Special Investigation
(O.S.I.). The Navy and Marine Corps fall under the jurisdiction of the Marine Corps Criminal Investigation Division
and Naval Criminal
Investigative Service
(N.C.I.S.). C.I.D. and O.S.I. do not
take direct enlistments. You must
serve in the respective branch for a period of time before being
considered. N.C.I.S. is actually a
civilian branch of the Navy and hires personnel in much the same way other
federal law enforcement agencies do. C.I.D. is a hybrid agency employing
civilian agents to work alongside Army personnel. The United States Coast Guard, a division of the Department
of Homeland Security, is
responsible for enforcing criminal as well as environmental and maritime law
on the high seas and in port. All
offer excellent training, opportunities and assignments all over the
world. The M.P.s and S.P.s offer
excellent training for prospective civilian police officers and can be a good
starting point for young people who do not choose the college route.
MORE QUESTIONS? Remember,
this guide is just meant to give you basic information. The U.S.
Department of Labor also has information in its on-line on
pursuing a Police & Detectives career. If you are seriously considering a career
in law enforcement at any level, please do not hesitate to stop by the D-Y Police Services
Unit to get more information, or if you are reading this on the
internet contact your local police department or any of the other agencies
mentioned here. CAREERS
IN LAW ENFORCEMENT A Guide To The Basics Written by School Resource Officer Provided
by The Frank G. Frederickson, Chief of Police through the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School “Committed
To Our Community” ©
1996-2009 Nicholas R. Pasquarosa, Jr. |
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